Members of Ganjam Bar Association (GBA) have decided to use the election season to garner support of political parties and leaders for their longstanding demand for a permanent Bench of Orissa High Court in Berhampur. The members started their four-day boycott on Friday. They cease work on last four days of every month and other bar associations take up similar protest on last two days of every month.
Basant Panda, president of the GBA, who along with its secretary Ram Prasad Panda and other lawyers sat on dharna in front of Berhampur court, said they had decided to contact all parties and candidates in undivided Ganjam district encompassing present Ganjam and Gajapati districts. “We will invite them to express their solidarity with our genuine demand for a permanent bench for the benefit of people from south Odisha,” he said.
The GBA would also urge the candidates to highlight the demand during their campaign. When contacted, leaders of most political parties said they were not opposed to the demand. Pitabas Panda, spokesperson of Ganjam district Congress, said their party had already included it in their manifesto for candidates contesting from Berhampur Lok Sabha and Assembly seat.
The protest for a High Court bench in Berhampur has been continuing for past several decades. Similar agitation for a High Court bench has been going on in western Odisha too.
