Orissa High Court lawyers will not go back to work till the court reopens after Puja vacation on October 25.

The indications were clear at the bar association’s general body meeting held on Wednesday to decide their future course of action.

The lawyers will continue to defy the Supreme Court order on their cease work for at least till Friday, which is the last working day before the Puja vacation, the bar association said.

The lawyers have been on indefinite strike for 41 days following the alleged assault on a colleague near the fish market at Nuabazar on August 28. They have been demanding arrest of the police personnel involved in the assault.

The lawyers’ body has decided at its general body meeting that the cease work will continue till the erring policemen are arrested and the decision will be reviewed on Friday, bar association secretary Satyabrata Mohanty said.

“We have decided to continue with our agitation as the guilty policemen have not been arrested. Our members will hold a meeting on Friday to take a decision on future course of action”, he said.

On September 27, the Supreme Court had restrained the Orissa High Court Bar Association from going on strike and directed it to resume court work so that no impediment is caused in the right to access to justice of any litigant.

Taking note of the rift between the police and members of the bar, the bench had directed the inspector general of police (crime branch) to probe into the matter.

In a related development, Orissa High Court on Wednesday posted the two PILs seeking judicial probe into the police-lawyer brawl posted the matter to Friday for hearing along with the report of the IG (crime branch).

The court fixed the date after the state counsel sought for the crime branch more time to submit the report.

IG (crime branch) Arun Kumar Bothra had earlier on October 3 sought time to submit the report on the plea that he had started probe on the previous day.