Lawyers block NH-203 near Kalpana Square in Bhubaneswar on Monday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, April 23: Bhubaneswar Bar Association lawyers today blocked the National Highway-203 for several hours in protest against decentralisation of the Bhubaneswar sub-registrar office.

The protesters locked the sub-registrar’s office and placed burning tyres on the road. The government has decided to set up a new office at Chandrasekharpur, in addition to the one operating from the premises of Bhubaneswar court.

The lawyers said the government’s decision to decentralise the office would create problems for the people. “Most of the sub-registrar offices have a court nearby. If another office is set up, people have to move from court to office and this will be a wastage of time and money,” said an agitating lawyer.

On April 4, the government had issued a notification to appoint a sub-registrar for the newly created office at Chandrasekharpur. At present, three offices — that of the Khurda district registrar, the Bhubaneswar sub-registrar and Khandagiri sub-registrar — are operating from the Bhubaneswar court premises. The government has decided to set up another sub-registrar’s office near Chandrasekharpur to handle some areas of the Bhubaneswar sub-registrar’s jurisdiction.

The protesters demanded that instead of decentralising the office, the government could have developed the available infrastructure. “There is no logic behind setting up a new office. The government should develop the infrastructure or set up the new office in the present campus,” said secretary of Bhubaneswar Bar Association Chitta Ranjan Bairisal. He also said that the agitation was a token protest and it will be intensified if the government fails to fulfil their demand.

This is not the first incident of lawyers protesting against the government’s decision to decentralise the office. In March 2009, the lawyers had opposed the move of the state government to shift the Khandagiri sub-registrar’s office from the court premises to Khandagiri.

Today’s agitation ended only after the police intervened. “The police assured us of arranging a meeting with the chief secretary or the chief minister, after which we decided to end the road blockade,” said another lawyer.

The lawyers also said that the government took a wrong decision to decentralise the sub-registrar’s office though it had earlier proposed to set up a judicial complex in the court area, which would accommodate all courts and revenue offices. The lawyers and deed writers have been protesting such moves fearing the loss of livelihood.

However, official sources in the revenue and disaster management department said the government had decided to decentralise for better functioning of the office.