CUTTACK: Preservation of fragile judicial records is crucial as it helps in research and shapes history, said Chief Justice of Orissa High Court Harish Tandon on Saturday.
Addressing the foundation day of the Centre for Judicial Archives here, the Chief Justice said the centre has the potential to become an epicentre of research for the entire country.
He also inaugurated an exhibition hall dedicated to Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Das in the first floor of the centre.
Retired professor of history, Calcutta University, Prof Arun Bandopadhyay stressed the importance of judgments in compiling the historical events. “The invaluable repository of records at the Centre would help in pursuing research activities,” he added.
Member of Centre for Judicial Archives Committee, Justice Sashikanta Mishra said a total 71,503 fragile records have been received by the Centre from the Orissa High Court and district courts of the state of which 5,173 files have been scientifically conserved.
“Till date, about 1,151 files have been digitised. A total 30,465 records have been provisionally catalogued and about 222 Persian files descriptively catalogued,” he added.
The book ‘The Judicial History of Odisha Vol II’ was released later in the day during a separate function at the Judicial Academy. The first volume of Judicial History of Odisha released earlier covered the ancient and medieval periods of history in the context of evolution of the judicial system in the state.
The second volume intends to trace the evolution of the judicial system of Odisha corresponding to the time period from 1757 to 1916. The Centre for Judicial Archives was set up in 2022 to document the rich judicial history of Odisha by preserving the old fragile records.