Balangir, July 25: Lawyers of Titilagarh today called off their agitation and returned to work after 40 days of protesting against shifting the family court to Balangir.

The lawyers called off their agitation after a delegate of lawyers met chief minister Naveen Patnaik in the state capital and he assured them of looking into the matter.

The lawyers had paralysed the functioning of the court and almost all other government offices, including those of the sub-collector, tehsil and treasury, for the past 40 days.

Before the district family court was set up in Balangir, judicial magistrate first class of Titilagarh, Saintala and Kantabanjhi were empowered to handle cases pertaining to family disputes. But now, all the cases from these areas will be tried at Balangir’s family court.

The lawyers do not object to the new court in Balangir, but want that the cases from their areas be handled by the judicial magistrates first class as before. As there was no response from the government on their demand, they resorted to the agitation.

Lawyers not only boycotted the court, they also ensured that no government offices functioned.

As a result, many arrested persons had to go to jail as their bail petitions could not be moved in the local courts. Government servants of Titilagarh sub-division also did not receive their salaries as the agitators had stopped the functioning of the treasury. The lawyers had twice observed a bandh in the Titilagarh sub-division area to press for their demand.

President of the Titilagarh Bar Association Kishor Chandra Panda said: “We met the chief minister and apprised him of our demand. He was very positive. We also met the high court registrar and handed over a copy of our demand.”

However, he said: “The agitation has been called off temporarily. We will be back on the streets if the government does not take steps within two months.”