CUTTACK: There is a need for rationalisation of case distribution even among judges, said Chief Justice of Orissa High Court S Muralidhar on his last day in office on Monday. At the official farewell ceremony held in the high court, the outgoing chief justice said the performance of judges is getting affected since some of them have little work to do and others are bogged down by pending cases.
Justice Muralidhar said his stint at the Orissa High Court was ‘most memorable’ and he was leaving with the satisfaction of having done his best for the court’s development with the objective of making the lives of both lawyers and litigants easier and also ensuring a congenial work atmosphere.
Justice Muralidhar served the Orissa High Court for two years and seven months. Earlier, he was a judge in the High Court of Delhi from May 29, 2006, to March 5, 2020, and then of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana from March 6, 2020 till January 3, 2021. He was sworn in as the chief justice of Orissa high court on January 4, 2021.
As per norms, Justice Muralidhar shared a bench with Justice Subhasis Talapatra who will succeed him as the next chief justice after taking oath on Tuesday. Justice Muralidhar’s tenure in Orissa high court was marked by the digitisation of court records that paved the way for paperless courts in the high court and several courts in the districts, setting up of virtual high courts, regional judicial academies and other e-initiatives.
In his address, Justice Talapatra said his predecessor transformed so many areas of the high court and this has tremendously impacted its functioning. “His efforts to implement Information Technology as a strategy for case management and also for faster administration has received huge applaud from other jurisdictions”.