Oppn furore continues over HC bench in western Odisha

Naveen calls for withdrawal of strike

The Opposition raked up the issue of setting up a bench of the Odisha High Court (HC) in western Odisha in the assembly for the second consecutive day of the monsoon session, blaming the government for dilly dallying on the genuine demand of the people of the region.

The house witnessed a stormy scene with the Opposition MLAs taking a dig at the government, accusing it of paying only lip service to the demand by constituting the Pal commission to look into the issue.

“This government is neglecting the concerns of the people of western Odisha. The constitution of the Pal commission is just an eyewash. The state government had appointed the Pal commission in 2008 but nothing has moved in five years. The Jaswant Singh Commission formed by the Parliament to consider setting up of HC benches has already given its report in 2000. As per this report, western Odisha qualifies to have an HC bench,” said Congress MLA Santosh Singh Saluja.

BJP legislature party leader Jayanarayan Mishra said, “The state government is not responding to the demands of the people of western Odisha. By ignoring the demand for establishment of a bench of HC in this region, the government is indirectly encouraging the separatists pitching for a separate Koshal state.”

On the contrary, the state government clarified it was not indifferent to the demand for creation of the HC bench in western Odisha.

“The issue of having a bench of the HC for western Odisha is a long-standing demand of the people of the region. The state government is sensitive to this demand and had in fact recommended the case to the HC earlier about which the law minister has already spoken. In the light of the ongoing agitation at Sambalpur, Sundargarh and other parts of western Odisha, the state government had made a reference to the State Election Commission seeking their clearance to hold discussions on the subject. The State Election Commission (SEC), however, stated that having discussions at this stage will violate the model code of conduct which is currently in force for the urban elections,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Patnaik said the state government is once again moving the SEC to allow the state government to receive a delegation from the Central Action Committee (CAC), spearheading the agitation to press for the demand for a HC bench in western Odisha, to discuss and resolve the present stalemate.

He appealed to the members of CAC to call off their strike which has affected functioning of different government offices of western districts of the state.

“As soon as the urban elections are over and the restrictions imposed by the model code of conduct are lifted, I will call the representatives of the CAC for a discussion in the first week of October to address this important issue,” Patnaik added.