Cuttack, Dec. 1: Orissa High Court has issued a contempt notice to the Puri collector for his alleged non-compliance of its earlier order related to abolition of bonded labour in four districts of the state.

While issuing the notice, the division bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra also asked the collector, Naba Kumar Nayak, why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for not complying the court order.

The notice was issued yesterday on a contempt petition filed by Baghambar Pattanaik, 63, a human rights activist. In January, the court had directed the collectors of Puri, Khurda, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur districts to identify, release and rehabilitate cases of bonded labour while adjudicating a public interest litigation filed by him.

Pattanaik, the advisor of the Odisha Goti Mukti Andolan, appeared in person before the high court and alleged that cases of bonded labour in Puri district had not received attention since its January 18 order, which had set a 12-week deadline for implementation.

He alleged that the Puri collector had not taken steps to inquire and release the 1,200 bonded labourers under bartan (a form of bonded labour) system in his district so far.

The PIL was filed after the Odisha government abolished the age-old practice of bartan following directions of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to stop the “illegal practice”.