The BJP in Odisha seems divided on the issue of setting up a high court bench in western Odisha.

This became clear when BJP stalwart and senior party MLA Jaynaryan Mishra differed from chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s statement that there was no need for setting up a high court bench in western Odisha.

In a written reply, Majhi on Monday informed the state Assembly that there was no justification for setting up a high court bench anywhere in Odisha as per the Supreme Court's order. He was responding to a question from BJD MLA Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, who wanted to know whether the government had any plan to set up the circuit bench court of the high court in Balangir.

Reacting to this, senior BJP MLA Jayanaryan Mishra said: “There are three high court benches in Uttar Pradesh. There is more than one high court bench in Maharashtra and other states. Why cannot there be a second high court bench in Odisha?”

Mishra argued, “thousands of cases are pending in different courts. Setting up another bench would expedite the hearing of cases. We need to provide justice at the doorsteps of the people. Justice delayed is justice denied. The chief minister referred to the SC judgment, but the population of the state is increasing and also of other states.”

In December 2022, Sambalpur, the nerve centre of western Odisha, witnessed law and order problems when hundreds of advocates went on a strike and later barged into the court premises and destroyed the infrastructure. Following it, the Supreme Court took a firm stand and maintained that the demand for a bench of the Orissa High Court had become obsolete with the passage of time and the advent of technology and that any hope for a circuit bench was lost with the conduct of agitating lawyers in Sambalpur.

Later, the then BJP MPs comprising Suresh Pujari, Nitesh Gang Deb, Sangeeta Singh Deo, Jaul Oram, and Basant Panda shot off a letter to Naveen Patnaik seeking his intervention on the issue. They had demanded that the state government hold consultations with the Chief Justice of the High Court and the governor of Odisha and sent a detailed proposal to the ministry and enabled the Union government to bring legislation in both Houses of Parliament for the establishment of a permanent Bench of High Court in the Western Odisha.

The BJP MPs further said that the delay and lack of commitment of the state government had led to the present unpleasant law and order situation.

Now, with the chief minister's stance, the BJP is in a tight spot over the issue.