Cuttack: The agitating lawyers Tuesday paralysed all government offices and offices of all public sector undertakings (PSUs) within the surroundings of the Orissa High Court as well as the subordinate courts till Thursday.
Cuttack Criminal Court Bar Association president A K Pati informed, “As per the decision taken at our General Body meeting, all the government offices in our court periphery, like Treasury, Collector’s, Excise, OCO Bank, Sub-Collector’s, Sub-Registrar, State Bank, DRDA, RTO, Board of Revenue, RDC, STA, Tehsildar, etc have been paralysed by us.”
He added, “All the four gates of the Court premises have been shut and our fellow lawyers are picketing. But, our agitation is going on peacefully.”
“We seek to warn the state government that despite our memorandum given earlier, no steps have been taken till date. Rather, our issue was downplayed. Hence, this ‘bandh’ is being observed today. We have urged the general public to cooperate with us,” he stated further.
He also informed, “School students, ambulance service, and patients coming to the nearby Sisu Bhawan have been exempted from our stir.”
“We have already decided to gherao Naveen Niwas and for this purpose, a general meeting of ours has been convened Wednesday. If the state government does not take any action within a day or two, our lawyers will be bound down to resort to their drastic step,” he threatened.
High Court Bar Association president Srikanta Nayak Monday after the general body meeting had said that despite sending a letter to the chief minister, seeking his appointment over their demands, he has not met the lawyers till date. Therefore, the lawyers have shut down all government offices in Cuttack from Tuesday and nearly 1500 to 2000 lawyers will gherao the chief minister residence Naveen Niwas and submit a memorandum to him Thursday.
He has also informed media that all Bar Associations of the state have been requested to depute at least five representatives to accompany and participate in the gherao. As the hearing on the case was not held Monday, it was postponed to Wednesday.
Likewise, the lawyers have decided to continue their cease work up to Wednesday and further course of action will be decided on the day in the General Body Meeting.
PNN