The talks between Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and agitating lawyers from western region of the state today failed to break the deadlock as the Central Action Committee (CAC) of All Western Odisha Bar Associations, announced to intensify its stir.
"We are throughly disappointed over the outcome of the talks. We had hoped that the chief minister would respect the 50-year-old demand of western Odisha and make concrete announcements. His statement is full of contradictions. We are not satisfied with his remarks," CAC president Ashok Das said.
Lawyers of 10 western Odisha districts under the banner of CAC had been demanding establishment of a permanent bench of the Orissa High Court in their region. A lawyers' strike since August 20, having support of all political parties, led to the closure of all the government offices and judicial courts in the region.
Das said their two demands before the chief minister were withdrawal of Justice C R Pal Commission of Inquiry and state government's recommendation to the Centre favouring establishment of a permanent bench in the western region.
The C R Pal Commission had been formed to decide whether a permanent bench should be set up in western region.
The CAC also demanded that the Assembly adopt a resolution on setting up the bench in Western Odisha.
Patnaik, however, did not accede to the demand for scrapping the Justice Pal Commission. Instead, he told the delegation that Justice Pal would be requested to submit its report within 60 days.
On the demand for recommendation to the Centre, Patnaik said in a statement that such a missive would be sent to the Centre after consulting constitutional experts.
"I also appealed to the members of the CAC to call off their strike in different government offices of western Odisha and allow their normal functioning. I also appealed to them not resort to any other agitation methods in this regard," Patnaik said in the assembly.
