Bhubaneswar, Dec 15 (Odisha.in) A day long strike by lawyers against evening courts hit legal works across Orissa Wednesday causing inconvenience to thousands of litigants, official said.
Litigants and witnesses came to different courts as the court hours began but were disappointed due to the absence of their respective lawyers.
Lawyers did not attend work and staged protests outside of the courts across the state including at state capital Bhubaneswar and Cuttack saying that evening courts will not only bring more disadvantages for them but also for the litigants as well as witnesses.
A lawyer leader said they will not have the same spirit in the evening after working the whole day. He added that litigants as well as witnesses will also face trouble. He also said the lawyers are also angry because the state government took the decision without consulting them.
“We will not be able to get enough time to prepare after working for the whole day. Similarly the witnesses and litigants leaving the court rooms late in the evening are likely to face security risk in Maoists affected areas, he said.
If the state government wants to reduce back log of the cases, it should adopt alternative available ways like opening more Lok Adalats, he said. The state government introduced evening courts on an experimental basis in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar in the first week of this month.
It has planned to open the same in other selected cities soon. The government said the evening courts have been set up on the basis of an instruction by the Supreme Court.
Odisha.in
