Cuttack: Panic hit Orissa High Court and other judicial establishments in the Millennium city after a lawyer attached to the Criminal Court Bar Association tested positive for Covid-19, a report said Thursday.
As a result, all the lower courts in the city as well as the offices of Civil and Criminal Courts Bar Associations have been shut down in view of a massive outbreak.
The matter came to fore after Jyotindriya Mohanty, secretary of the Cuttack Bar Association informed the interim committee of Orissa High Court Bar Association about the development, Wednesday. He has informed in writing about a bar member being infected and other members coming in his contact.
Members have been advised to strictly follow social distancing norms and any violation would force the bar authorities to announce a shutdown in the bar premises.
On being informed, Bijay Kumar Mohanty, chairman of the interim committee of Orissa High Court Bar Association said that there is an urgent need to sanitise the high court premises and sought proposals from members to combat the imminent danger. He has even sought the opinion of the members to completely close down the hall of the bar association.
Sources said, a lawyer member of the Criminal Court Bar Association and a native of Niali in Cuttack district was afflicted with coronavirus few days back. He is also a member of Niali Bar Association and spends most of his time in the Criminal Court Bar Association to attend his court work. It is apprehended that not only clients but many lawyers have came in contact with the infected individual.
Various bar associations including Orissa High Court Bar Association are also taking precautionary measures to check the spread. The associations have restricted the entry of the clients in their premises.
PNN