SAMBALPUR: BJD’s Sambalpur unit president and former minister Rohit Pujari on Monday raised a fresh demand for a high court bench in western Odisha.
Pujari attacked the Centre and BJP government in the state for the ‘continued silence’ on the issue. “It is unacceptable that despite decades of struggle, people in the western region of Odisha are still forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to seek justice,” he said, reacting to reports that Maharashtra’s Kolhapur would get a high court bench on August 18.
“When the BJP government in Maharashtra can support a bench in Kolhapur, why is the same party not taking any step in this regard despite being in power in Odisha? If Kolhapur can get a bench, why not Sambalpur?” he questioned.
Pujari pointed out that people of more than 10 districts in western Odisha are compelled to travel 300 to 500 km to reach the Orissa High Court in Cuttack, causing significant financial and physical hardship.He said people, lawyers and civil society groups have been demanding a high court bench in Sambalpur for years.
Stating that the Law Commission and Jaswant Singh Commission had earlier supported the need for benches in remote areas, he said the demand is not political but based on legal, administrative and humanitarian grounds.
The BJD leader further said former chief ministers Biju Patnaik and Naveen Patnaik had written to the Centre in support of the demand. “Now, when there is no political conflict between the Centre and the state, what is stopping the ruling BJP from setting up a high court bench at Sambalpur?” he added.