BHUBANESWAR: With Odisha government making no move for setting up benches of Orissa High Court in the western and southern regions, the Centre has once again sent a reminder to submit a proposal on the matter.
In the latest communication, Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju has urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to have necessary consultations with the Chief Justice of High Court and work out the details including the provision of land, building and residential accommodation for Judges and staff of the proposed bench.
“Once the State government communicates the proposal along with the consent of the High Court, the Union government would take necessary action,” the Union Minister wrote to the Chief Minister. In September 2018, Naveen demanded the establishment of permanent benches of the HC in southern and western regions of the State to mitigate the inconvenience faced by the litigants following protests and dharnas by the lawyers.
Although in January 2019, Naveen again wrote to Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, urging him to take a call on creating separate benches in view of the unrelenting agitation by the lawyers and locals, no proposal was sent.
In his reply in February same year, Prasad had said that the Centre will initiate the process after receiving a complete proposal on the location and jurisdiction of the proposed benches apart from the land required for the construction of the building and the residential area for the judges with the consent of the Chief Justice and the Governor.
There has been exchange of letters between the Union Law Minister and the Chief Minister several times since 2018, but neither any proposal was prepared nor submitted to the Centre. “The proposals have to be sent by the State government concerned, on whom the onus lies to provide required land and meet other expenditures after obtaining the consent of the HC, which has the responsibility of the day-to-day administration of the Principal Seat of and its benches,” Rijiju stated in his letter to Naveen.
High Court benches at places other than its Principal seat are established as per the recommendations made by the Jaswant Singh Commission and judicial pronouncements of the Supreme Court in 2000 after consideration of the proposal from the State government in its readiness.