High Court wants state govt views on PIL on bandh calls

The Orissa High Court today asked the opposite parties to get instructions from the state government over a PIL seeking to declare all strikes by different bar associations of the state as "illegal".
The court fixed the next hearing of the matter on March 12.
After the matter was referred, by the Chief Justice last month, to a three-member bench of Justices Pradeep K Mohanty, Indrajit Mohanty and Subash Chandra Parija, it jointly adjudicated over the matter along with another writ petition initiated by the High Court registry.
Advocate S K Padhi in the PIL had pointed out that the recent strike calls given by different bar associations of the state over establishment of permanent benches of the High Court, were illegal.

"Due to bandh calls by bar associations and other organisations, common people are suffering a lot," the petitioner said adding even elderly people were deprived of medical facilities.
The petitioner further said in his PIL that the state government was unable to take suitable action against the bandhs and as a result, democratic process like elections were also being postponed or put off.
Urging the High Court to declare bandh calls as illegal, the petitioner pointed out that the state government was violating the Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution by not checking the bandhs.