CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court observed its 79th foundation day here on Sunday. The foundation day coincides with the death anniversary of first Chief Justice Bira Kishore Ray.
Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak, fellow judges, advocate general Pitambar Acharya and members of the legal fraternity garlanded Justice Ray’s statue on the court premises and remembered his contribution to the establishment of the state’s highest judicial institution.
Justice Ray was the first advocate general of the new Odisha province and became the first chief justice of the Orissa High Court from July 26, 1948. He died on July 26, a decade later, on the 10th foundation day of Orissa High Court in 1958.
Established with four judges, Orissa HC now has 17 judges, including the chief justice, against a sanctioned strength of 33 judges. Functioning of the court proceedings was shifted to a new seven-storey high court building adjacent to the old one since January 2, 2014. The modern facility spans 1.68 lakh sq ft of carpet area and houses 22 courtrooms and judges’ chambers along with lounges and other state-of-the-art amenities.
As per official records, the circuit court of Patna HC had its first sitting in Cuttack on May 18, 1916. Madhusudan Das, the then president of Cuttack Bar Association while welcoming it expressed hope that the circuit court would become a permanent bench for Odisha in the near future.
But a separate High Court eluded Odisha when it was made a province on April 1, 1936. As a result, a separate High Court was demanded by the High Court Bar Association in Cuttack by passing a resolution on July 26, 1938. It was only on April 30, 1948, the Government of India first declared a court for the Odisha province. HJ Kania, the then Chief Justice of the Federal Court of India, inaugurated it on July 26, 1948.