Family court inaugurated in Berhampur by Chief Justice of Orissa High Court

Ganjam District Bar demands permanent bench of the High Court in the city

A family court was inaugurated on the premises of the Berhampur court on Saturday by the Chief Justice of the High Court, Justice V. Gopalagouda. During his visit to Ganjam district, Justice Gopalgouda also inaugurated the court of the civil judge (junior division) cum judicial magistrate 1st Class at Buguda. He also attended a legal literacy camp at R. Damodarpalli village, which was organised by the Orissa State Legal Services Authority. Justice Das was accompanied by Justice I. Mohanty of the High Court.

The Chief Justice also interacted with the members of the Ganjam Bar Association during his visit to the city. The lawyers of the association through a memorandum put forward their list of long-standing demands before Justice Das.

Their main demand was establishment of a permanent bench of the High Court in the city for the benefit of inhabitants of south Orissa.

The lawyers also wanted filling up of vacant post of second additional district judge in the Berhampur court, construction of a well equipped lawyers' auditorium, posting of magistrates to fill up vacancies of two posts of JMFC. They wanted the MACT court and the office of the Assistant Commissioner Endowment to be shifted to the vicinity of district court. There was demand for establishment of a special court in the city to deal with disproportaionate assets cases arising from south Orissa.

The Ganjam Bar Association demanded the infrastructure on the court premises to be improved. They wanted the existing library building to be demolished and a double storied structure to be built in its place.

Supply of adequate furniture, books and other amenities to the Bar Association also found place in the memorandum.

The lawyers were of the opinion that the entire land of the SDJM court in the city which is under the Revenue department should be transferred to Judicial department for construction of a multi-storeyed building at the spot to locate all the courts of the city at one place.

Source: The Hindu

Students’ body battles for HC bench in Berhampur

Permanent bench of High court in Berhampur demanded

BERHAMPUR: South Orissa Students' Association (SOSA) has expressed its solidarity with the agitating lawyers of South Orissa and has demanded early establishment of a permanent bench of Orissa High court at Berhampur- the nerve centre of activities in southern part of the State. SOSA president RP Tripathy said southern Odisha has remained the forgotten frontier of the State with alarming levels of poverty and underdevelopment. While majority people of South Odisha are living under abject poverty and backwardness their genuine demands have been repeatedly overlooked by the state government. The students' body pointed out that lawyers had been demanding establishment of a High Court bench in the city for the past six decades. Both the lawyers and general public of south Orissa have resorted to agitations for this demand in the past. The SOSA activists urged the lawyers in Cuttack, especially the ones of the Orissa High Court, to get out of their insensitiveness towards the problems of people from far off areas to approach the High Court located in Cuttack. It may be noted that the Bar Association of the Orissa High Court and the Cuttack Bar Association boycotted courts on Monday to protest against the statement of Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily in favour of the establishment of High Court benches in Orissa during his visit to Sambalpur. The SOSA activists through a press release expressed surprise that how delivering justice at the doorstep of the poor through benches of the High Court could be opposed by them. They pointed out that former President of India V.V. Giri and former Chief Minister of Orissa Biju Patnaik had openly supported the demand for establishment of High Court bench in Berhampur. They alleged that delay in establishment of permanent benches of the High Court in parts of the state was depriving people of south Orissa their right to get justice at their doorstep.

While recommending a High Court Bench at Berhampur in 2007, the State government opined that there was an urgent need for this in view of the backwardness of the region, popular mood and large number of cases originating from here. As per SOSA, cases from south Orissa constitute more than 30 per cent of the total cases in the Orissa High Court. The geographical spread of south Orissa makes the need of a High Court bench in Berhampur an inevitable one. They said that Berhampur had all necessary infrastructure for the establishment of a permanent bench of the High Court and it was well connected to all parts of south Orissa. The SOSA urged the lawyers of the Orissa High Court to give up stubbornness and support the demand for the interest of the general public. They urged the Union Law Ministry and the State government to expedite the process of establishment of High Court benches in the State.

Sources: The Pioneer, The Hindu, OrissaDiary, KalingaTimes, OrissaBarta

Ganjam Bar decries Cuttack Highcourt lawyers’ move

The Ganjam Bar Association, Berhampur on July 18 after an emergency meeting condemned the action of Cuttack Highcourt bar following the statement of Union Law Minister regarding establishment of benches in the State other than the principal location.

Ganjam Bar, in the meeting, had welcomed the decision of Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily who had opined in favour of establishment of benches of High Court at places other than the principal seat. However, it was regretted as the Union Minister had forgotten the stand of Ganjam Bar Association that has been demanding a permanent HC bench at Berhampur for decades. Berhampur happens to be the most suitable place for the establishment of a permanent bench of the high court, stated former secretary of the Ganjam Bar, Manoj Patnaik.

Besides, it was also decided that the bar association would again gather all the office-bearers of the bar association across south Odisha for intensification of the movement in favour of HC bench at Berhampur. The bar association also condemned the action of the Cuttack bar that has taken the decision to oppose the Law Minister’s move.

Source: The Pioneer

Sea of devotees converge in Puri for Rath Yatra

Sea of devotees and tourists thronged the temple town of Puri on July 13 for the annual Rath Yatra (chariot festival) of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra.

The ceremonial processions of the deities known as Pahandi (carrying the deities out of the temple to the chariots) started at 8.20 a.m., about an hour before the scheduled time.

The Rath Yatra marks the annual journey of the three deities from the 12th century Jagannath temple in three splendidly decorated wooden chariots, pulled by devotees, to the Gundecha temple, about three kilometres away. By 9 a.m., about four lakh devotees had already reached this temple town. By evening, the numbers could swell to more than a million, temple administration informed the media.

The nine-day chariot festival is held in the Hindu lunar month of Asadha, which falls in June-July. The festival culminates nine days later when the deities make their way back home to the Jagannath temple.

The state government has made elaborate security arrangements with more than 5,000 policemen deployed across the city to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident. More than a dozen closed circuit security cameras have been installed at various places to keep a watch on troublemakers and manage crowds.Bomb detection and disposal squads and fire tender units are also ready to meet emergencies. The coast guard, which has stationed a ship in the Bay of Bengal close to the Puri coast, has also intensified patrolling along the sea route.

Inspite of these arrangements the Rath Yatra festival was marred by a stampede that left a woman dead and four others injured. The mishap occurred during the pulling of the first Rath, that of Lord Balabhadra.

63 special trains during Rath Yatra

East Coast Railway on Friday announced that a total of 213 trains, including 63 special ones would run during the entire Car Festival period of Lord Jagannath. The period includes Gundicha Yatra, Sandhya Darshan, Bahuda and Sunavesha. Last year, the number of trains was 213 only.

Divisional Railway Manager of East Coast Railway Sanjeev Garg told reporters about the announcement at a Press Conference held at Khurda. He said one special train will leave Kharagpur at 4.40 am on July 13 and will arrive at Puri at 2 pm. While returning, this train will leave Puri at 3.30 pm on Rath Yatra day and will arrive at Kharagpur at 11.45 pm on the same day.

One special train will leave Visakhapatnam at 6.00 pm on July 12 and will arrive at Puri at 7.30 am on the Rath Yatra day. In the return direction, this Passenger Special will leave Puri at 11.45p.m on Rath Yatra day. It will arrive in Visakhapatnam at 11.30 am on the following day.

Three passenger trains will leave Palasa on that day towards Puri. The Palasa-Puri Special trains will leave Palasa at 4.25 am, 4.45 am and 6 am towards Puri and will reach Puri at 11.20 am, 12.50 pm and 3.20 pm. On return one special train towards Palasa will leave Puri at 4.20 pm and will arrive at 11.20 pm. Another special train from Puri will leave at 6.20 pm on Rath Yatra day and will arrive in Palasa at 1.05 am. The third special train will leave Puri at 7.40 pm and will reach Palasa at 1.45 am.

One passenger special train will leave Koraput at 10.45 am on July 12 and will arrive at Puri at 8.35 am on Rath Yatra day. While returning the train will leave Puri at 00.10 am and will arrive in Koraput at 10.30 pm on the following day.

One passenger special train will leave Kendujhargarh at 10 pm on July 12 and will reach Puri at 10 am on Rath Yatra day. On return the train will leave Puri at 10.05 pm on July 13 and will arrive at Kendujhargarh at 5.15 am on the following day. Other special trains will also run from Cuttack, Khurda, Berhampur, Dhenkanal, Bhadrak, Anugul and Paradip for the Rath Yatra. 14 special trains for Bahuda and 11 special trains for Sunavesa will run to and from Puri. Keeping in view the above arrangements, ECoR has decided to extend and divert some trains to Puri on Rath Yatra day and Bahuda day i.e. on July 13 and July 21. Bhadrak-Khalikote passenger, Khurda Road-Bhubaneswar passenger, Khurda Road-Cuttack passenger, Baripada-Bhubaneswar Express and Kharagpur-Khurda Road passenger will be extended and diverted to reach Puri on Rath Yatra day.

Source: The Pioneer