High Court of Orissa

India

July 26, 2023

A commemorative postage stamp on the 75 years of Orissa High Court, Cuttack :

Issued by India

Issued on Jul 26, 2023

Issued for : Department of Posts is pleased to issue Commemorative Postage Stamp on High Court of Orissa on the celebration of 75 years of its establishment.

Credits :
Stamp/FDC/Brochure : Sh. Suresh Kumar
Cancellation Cachet : Smt. Nenu Gupta

Type : Stamp, Mint Condition

Colour : Multi Colour

Denomination : 500 Paise

Stamps Printed : 301800

Printing Process : Wet Offset

Printer : Security Printing Press, Hyderabad

About :

The State of Orissa (now Odisha) was originally a part of the Bengal province during the colonial rule. On 22^nd March 1912, a new province of Bihar and Orissa was formed. However, it was the Calcutta High Court which exercised jurisdiction over the said new province. This changed with the Patna High Court came into existence with effect from 26^th February 1916. Eleven Judgeships (Districts) in Bihar and one in Orissa were subject to the jurisdiction of the Patna High Court.
It was ordained in the Letters Patent that one or more judges of the Patna High Court would visit Orissa by way of circuit to deal with the cases in Orissa. As a result, the Patna High Court began sitting in circuit at Cuttack from 18^th May 1916. An Advocate General for Orissa was appointed. The District and Session Judge of Cuttack functioned as the Registrar of the Patna High Court in circuit. Welcoming the Judges at the first sitting of the Circuit Court at Cuttack, the President of the Cuttack Bar Association, Utkal Gourav Madhusudan Das, the first Advocate of Orissa State expressed the hope that a permanent Bench would soon be established at Cuttack.
Four of the districts of Orissa at the relevant time, namely Cuttack, Balasore, Puri and Angul were under the jurisdiction of a single district judge. Sambalpur was under the jurisdiction of the Sambalpur–Manbhum District Judge. This situation continued till 1^st April, 1936 when the separate province of Orissa was formed. From then on, there were two District judges one at Berhampur exercising Jurisdiction over Ganjam, Koraput and Puri and the other at Cuttack exercising Jurisdiction over Cuttack, Balasore and Sambalpur Districts.
Meanwhile, there was a growing demand for Orissa to have its own High Court with several representations being submitted to the Government. The High Court Bar Association at Cuttack adopted a Resolution on 26^th July, 1938 demanding a separate High Court for Orissa.
By resolution dated 15^th August 1942, the Government of Orissa constituted a committee to examine the question of establishing a High Court for Orissa. This Committee comprised of Sri Bira Kishore Ray, the then Advocate General, Odisha as Chairman and Sri Bichitrananda Das, Member of Legislative Assembly, Rai Bahadur Chintamani Acharya, President of High Court Bar Association at Cuttack, Sri D.N. Narsingh Rao, Advocate, Berhampur as Members and J.E. Maher, Superintendent and Remembrancer of Legal Affairs, Odisha as the Secretary.
The Committee’s report was published on 31^st December 1943. Consequent upon the government accepting the Committee’s recommendations, the Governor of Orissa submitted an address to the Governor General of India on 3^rd March, 1948 that a High Court, be constituted for the Province of Orissa. On 30^th April 1948, the Governor-General of India in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 229 (1) of the Government of India Act, 1935 issued the Orissa High Court Order, 1948 providing for constitution of the High Court for the Province of Orissa from 5^th July 1948. Subsequently, by Orissa High Court (Amendment) Order 1948, the date of formation was changed to 26 July, 1948.
The High Court of Orissa was established on 26^th July 1948 at Cuttack thus fulfilling the dreams and aspirations of the Odia people. The High Court started with four Judges including the Chief Justice, Justice B.K. Ray who held office till 31^st October 1951 and Justice Jagannadha Das succeeded him. Justice Das was followed by Justice R.L. Narsimham took oath as the Chief Justice on 22^nd March 1956.
The High Court started functioning from an existing Civil Court building from 26^th July, 1948 onwards. This was a two-storied structure in brick-red color, constructed in 1913.
To meet the growing demand of space, a plan was drawn up for an eight storied new building with carpet area of nearly 1.68 lakh square feet in conformity with the modern-day architecture blended with traditional aesthetic sense. Construction of the new building of the High Court commenced in the year 2008 and was completed in the year 2012 involving a cost of around Rs. 65 crores. It has provision for 25 court rooms including the new court room of the Chief justice, Judges’ lounge, video conferencing hall, chambers of the Advocate General, Senior Advocates’ lounge, Bar Association Hall apart from basement parking for two-wheelers of employees with adequate security arrangements. The building was inaugurated on 11^th November, 2012 and made functional on 2^nd January, 2014.
The century-old court building has now been designated as a heritage building. However, some of the courts and offices of the registry are still functioning from there.
Since the High Court of Orissa was established and started functioning on 26^th July, 1948, the High Court of Orissa is celebrating its 75^th Year (26^th July, 2022 to 26^th July, 2023).
Text : Referenced from content provided by Proponent.