Observing that the agitating lawyers have to resume work, the Supreme Court said though one of the issues for the protest is the demand for establishment of a permanent bench of the Orissa High Court in western Odisha, high court benches cannot be at the "doorsteps".
"What is the core issue? Every district wants high court benches?" a bench of Justices S K Kaul and A S Oka observed, adding, "You can have district judiciary at your doorsteps, you cannot have a high court at your doorsteps." "It cannot be done. Odisha is not such a big state," it said.
The Supreme Court was hearing an application filed by the registrar general of the High Court which has said that abstention of work by members of the bar associations in several districts has seriously hampered the judicial work in the subordinate courts of the state.
