Cuttack, Oct. 4: A PIL for legal aid service for the middle-income group people in the state has been filed in Orissa High Court.

In her petition, 49-year-old Jayanti Das, a resident of Cuttack city, has sought introduction of a legal aid scheme by the high court in line with the Supreme Court Middle-Income Group Legal Aid Scheme.

Though the scheme, formulated by the Supreme Court, has been in vogue since 1995, no such initiative is taken at the Orissa High Court level for litigants, who belong to the middle income group. Jayanti’s counsel, Ashis Kumar Mishra, presented preliminary arguments when the petition came up for hearing yesterday.

Taking note of it, the division bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.K. Mishra accepted the petition for examination and order. The court, however, did not fix any date for passing the order.

The petition said the Supreme Court had introduced the scheme to provide legal aid services to the middle-age group persons, whose monthly income does not exceed Rs 60,000 or annual gross salary, Rs 7.5 lakh.

The scheme is available under the Supreme Court Middle-Income Group Legal Aid Society for the litigants to file or defend cases in the top court.

The state government had introduced the Odisha State Legal Aid and Advice Scheme. Accordingly, the Odisha Legal Aid and Advice Board (now the Odisha State Legal Services Authority) has been providing free legal services to the weaker sections of the community. While the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court is the society’s patron-in-chief, the senior high court judge is the executive chairman.

But, there is no such legal aid or advice programme for persons belonging to the middle-income group, the PIL contended, seeking formation of the Orissa High Court Middle-Income Group Legal Aid Society in line with the top court.

According to the petition, middle-class people, who can’t afford the expensive litigation in the Supreme Court, can avail of services of the Supreme Court Middle-Income Group Legal Aid Society for not more than Rs 20,000. A sitting judge of the Supreme Court with the attorney general of India as its ex-officio vice-president heads the society.

The society consists of 30 senior advocates, apart from 100-odd lawyers. Even a senior advocate, if engaged by a client, can charge a maximum of Rs 9,000 for three days of hearing or the entire case. The amount would start from Rs 3,000 depending upon the stage of the petition.

Jayanti, a social activist, has also filed a PIL, seeking the court’s intervention against liquor shops near temples, schools and other educational institutions in Cuttack city.