The State Government has decided to move the Centre to fill up vacant posts of judges in the Orissa High Court.
In a written reply to a question from Amar Prasad Satpathy (BJD), Law Minister Maheswar Mohanty said the sanctioned strength of judges in the Orissa High Court is 22. But, 17 judges including the Chief Justice are in place now, he added.
To a question from Santosh Singh Saluja (Cong), the Minister said more than 3.66 lakh cases are pending in the High Court out of which 3.27 lakh are civil cases.
Replying to a separate question from legislator Ranendra Pratap Swain of the BJD, the Minister said there are demands to set up bench of High Court at Sambalpur, Balangir, Bargarh, Berhampur, Kalahandi, Koraput, Balasore, Baripada, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.
The Minister said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written to Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal for establishment of high court benches in Western and Southern Odisha.
The letter has been sent for the opinion of the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, he said.