Lawyers are up in arms in different areas for different reasons. While the men in black coats are on a warpath in western and southern districts for the establishment of high court benches in their respective areas, lawyers in Bhubaneswar are demanding the court be shifted from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar.

Members of the High Court Bar, on the other hand, have already launched agitations, opposing the demands made by their counterparts in western and southern districts as well as in the state capital.

Lawyers of the western districts had recently observed a day-long token strike asking for a high court bench in their region, as Cuttack, the current seat of the court, is far from several western districts and has therefore been inaccessible to them. The common people in these districts have been facing problems in fighting their cases in the high court.

This is not the first time that lawyers of western Orissa have raised their voice for a high court bench. The demand has been brought forth every now and then, almost for the past two decades. More importantly, they have got the support of all sections of the society, including local units of major political parties. In fact, the lawyers have been joined by political parties in their recent token strike.

If not as forceful as their western counterparts, lawyers of southern districts too have come out with a demand for a high court bench. In support of their demand they have also cited the distance between Cuttack and several southern districts.

The Bhubaneswar Bar Association, which is spearheading the agitation for the shifting of the high court from Cuttack to the capital, are of the view that the government already had a proposal to shift the high court and it (the proposal) should be executed as early as possible. Moreover, there is no space in Cuttack for expansion of the high court, which has now become a necessity. Members of the Bhubaneswar Bar Association had recently boycotted all courts in the capital.

The High Court Bar Association has already passed a resolution opposing the demands made by their colleagues in western and southern districts as well as in the capital.

The state government, on its part, has come out in support of the demand of lawyers in western and southern districts while maintaining silence on the demand raised by the legal fraternity in Bhubaneswar.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written a letter to the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, supporting the establishment of permanent branches of the high court at Berhampur in the south and Sambalpur in the west.

The chief minister’s letter seems to have backfired on the two-party ruling alliance as the members of the High Court Bar Association have already described Patnaik’s move as politically motivated and is designed to woo voters of the western and southern Orisa before the next assembly elections.

In fact, the High Court Bar Association launched its agitation only after the chief minister’s letter was released to the press. The chief minister is playing to the gallery and this will have dangerous consequences as it will now encourage lawyers in other parts of the state to launch agitations for undesirable demands, senior members of the Bar Association have already gone on record.

Though no BJD-BJP leader has so far commented on the chief minister’s letter, some of them, during private conversations, admit that the chief minister’s letter to the Chief Justice was unnecessary.

“It would have been better had the chief minister maintained silence and allowed the storm to pass”, said a senior BJD leader, who did not want to be quoted.