Justice CR Pal and Orissa High Court (top)

Cuttack, Sept. 21: Rourkela Shramik Union, an organisation of the employees of the Rourkela Steel Plant, today appeared before Justice C.R. Pal Commission to argue in favour of a high court bench in the western part of the state.

Deposing before the commission, Rourkela Shramik Union general secretary Mahipal Bag demanded a permanent bench of the high court at any place in western Odisha.

He said the bench could be set up anywhere in Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur or Bargarh.

The state government has constituted the Western Odisha Development Council to look into various social, educational and economic problems that are plaguing ten districts in the region. A high court bench is also necessary to provide speedy justice to the poor litigants of the region, said Bag.

The ten districts, which fall within the jurisdiction of the Western Odisha Development Council, are Sundargarh, Jharsuguda Sambalpur, Deogarh, Bargarh, Balangir, Sonepur, Boudh, Nuapada and Kalahandi.

Bag also said that people residing in far-flung areas of western Odisha face a lot of difficulties to file or follow up their case in the high court which was located in Cuttack. The poor people of the region are unable to meet the expenditure that is required to come to Cuttack to file or follow up a case in the high court.

While submitting an affidavit and documents in support of his demand for a high court bench in western Odisha, he said there was no reason why it could not be set up as similar high court benches were functioning from various places in other states.

On August 20, lawyers had launched a movement spearheaded by the central action committee of the All Western Odisha Bar Association for a permanent bench in the region. The committee had intensified its agitation with a 12-hour dawn-to-dusk strike in the region on Thursday.

In its first sitting yesterday, the commission hearings had centred around the demand for a high court bench in southern Odisha, especially in Koraput vis-à-vis Berhampur and Bhawanipatna.

“The commission will have its next sitting on Monday. Phulbani District Bar Association has been asked to give deposition on that day,” said commission’s secretary Ajay Chandra Mohanty.