Cuttack, Sept. 26: The state bar council has urged the government to revoke its decision to abolish the Odisha Administrative Tribunal immediately. It has also called for a statewide strike by lawyers on September 28 to protest the government move.

The decision to cease work was taken at a meeting of the general council here today.

Council chairman Manas Ranjan Mohapatra said the entire 156 bar associations across the state would abstain from work on Monday to "protest" against the state government's decision while giving it a 15-day ultimatum to revoke it. The council will adopt a wait-and-watch policy during this time before taking a decision on the future course of action.

"All lawyers across the state will wear black badges from Monday as a mark of protest till our demand is fulfilled," Mohapatra said.

While briefing the media, the bar council chairman said the general council had further decided that lawyers, who would be on strike demanding the withdrawal of the state government's decision, would resume work on September 29.

On September 9, the state cabinet approved abolition of the tribunal, which was established on July 14, 1986.

The government had announced that the decision to abolish the tribunal was taken after it had been felt that the very objective of the institution to give quick justice to employees on service matters could not be achieved.<>On September 19, both the tribunal bar associations in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack submitted a joint memorandum to chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

"Orissa High Court is heavily burdened with too many cases. In such circumstances, decision for the abolition of the tribunal and to merge the it with the high court is unjustified, unreasonable and uncalled for," the memorandum stated, urging Naveen to withdraw the cabinet decision "in the interest of the litigants".

The Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, empowered the central government to establish the tribunals on specific requests of the concerned state governments. Subsequently, the tribunals were set up in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Tamil Nadu and Bengal.

However, the tribunals of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh have been abolished.