Cuttack, Dec. 29: A law commission will shortly be set up in the state to assist the government in framing new legislations, said chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the 44th All Odisha Lawyers' Conference here today.

The commission will aid and advise the government in matters relating to legal reforms and framing of legislation relevant to the present day society.

"The state government is working on setting up a law commission for examining the existing laws and suggest modification if necessary," said Naveen.

Lawyers had been involved in the framing of the Constitution. They represent the voice of the nation and have an important role to play as they are considered the guardian of the rule of the law, he said.

Addressing the conference, Naveen said his government was considering the demand of the lawyers' association to raise the grant to the Advocates' Welfare Fund. The state has been providing Rs 1 crore as grant to the fund. The association has demanded that the grant be raised to Rs 5 crore from the next fiscal.

"We are grateful that the chief minister has assured us that the government will consider our demand of raising the grant for the social security of the lawyers to Rs 5 crore from the existing grant of Rs 1 crore," said All Odisha Lawyers' Association secretary Bibhu Prasad Tripathy.

Supreme Court judge Justice Dipak Mishra said lawyers were the torchbearers in any democratic set-up. "The nobility of the profession is to ensure that justice is provided to all. Hence, the lawyers should play a greater role in law and governance," he said.

Over 400 delegates from across the state attended the two-day annual conference that began at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium.

"The key challenge before the lawyers is to ensure that they work in tandem with the changing technologies as there has been rapid strides in the information technologies across the world," said law minister Arun Sahu.

Lawyers should equip themselves with the IT acts as cyber crime has emerged as a major challenge in the 21st century, he said.

"The state government has set up 50 courts to speed up the justice delivery mechanism and more courts are in the pipeline," said the minister.