On 26th July, 2022the High Court of Orissa had entered into the 75th year of its establishment and the entire year was celebrated by organising several events such as felicitation of former Judges, advocates and legal assistants and by holding sports and cultural meets of the employees and quiz competition among law students and judicial officers etc. The year long celebration ended with a valedictory ceremony on 26th July, 2023 graced by Smt. Droupadi Murmu, the Hon’ble President of India at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Cuttack.

1. Sports meet of the employees

As part of the celebration of the 75th year of the High Court, a series of events were organized for the employees of the High Court beginning with badminton, chess, carom and musical chair at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor stadium, Cuttack. The cricket tournament was held at the Sunshine school ground. On 8th January, 2023 the closing ceremony of the High Court of Orissa Sports Meet, 2022- 23 was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium where final matches of various events were played and prizes were presented by Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice and the Judges of the High Court of Orissa to the participating employees.

2. Cultural meet of the employees

As part of the celebration of the 75th year of the High Court, a cultural meet of the employees was held in the Auditorium of Odisha Judicial Academy where the employees performed various art forms and also staged a drama in the presence of Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice and the Judges of the High Court of Orissa.

3. Felicitation of the legal Assistants who had completed 30 years in their profession

On 31st March, 2023, as part of the celebration of its 75th year, the High Court of Orissa felicitated the members of the High Court of Orissa Legal Assistants’ Association who had completed 30 years in their profession by then. Dr. S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice and the Judges of the High Court felicitated 68 such Legal Assistants in presence of the members of the High Court of Orissa Legal Assistants’ Association.

A welfare stamp for the Legal Assistants’ Association was released on the occasion. Considering the struggles involved in the professional lives of legal assistants the High Court decided to amend its rules making provision for mandatory affixture of welfare stamp worth Rs.10/- on every vakalatnama and appearance memo filed by the Advocates.

4. Felicitation ceremony of Former Chief Justices and Judges of the High Court of Orissa

As part of the celebration of 75th year of establishment, on 8th April, 2023, the High Court of Orissa felicitated its former Chief Justices and Judges in a function held in the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Cuttack presided over by Justice B.R. Gavai, Judge, Supreme Court of India in the presence of Dr. S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice and the Judges of the High Court. The function was held to acknowledge the contribution of all the former Chief Justices and Judges of the High Court of Orissa in the successful journey of 75 years of the High Court. The dignitaries felicitated by the High Court included former Chief Justices of India, Justice G.B. Patnaik and Justice Dipak Misra and former Judges of the Supreme Court Justice Arijit Pasayat, Justice P.K. Ayer Balasubramanyan, Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly, Justice Ananga Kumar Patnaik, Justice V. Gopala Gowda, Justice Amitava Roy and Justice Vineet Saran along with former Chief Justices, Justice Sujit Barman Roy, Justice Bilal Nazki and Justice K.S. Jhaveri.

Justice Prafulla Kumar Mishra, former Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Justice Laxmikanta Mohapatra, former Chief Justice of Manipur High Court, Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty, former Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court, Justice Indrajit Mahanty, former Chief Justice of Rajasthan and Tripura High Courts, Justice Jaswant Singh, former Chief Justice of Tripura High Court were also felicitated in the function along with Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra, former Chief Justice, Jharkhand High Court, Justice C.R. Dash, Judge, Calcutta High Court and Justice S.N. Prasad, Judge, Jharkhand High Court. All of them were previously either the Chief Justice or the Judge of the High Court of Orissa.

The High Court also felicitated its former Judges Justice Susanta Chatterjee, Justice P.C. Naik, Justice Basudeb Panigrahi, Justice Pradipta Ray, Justice Ratnakar Dash, Justice Pradyumna Kumar Mohanty, Justice C.R. Pal, Justice P.K. Tripathy, Justice Choudhury P.K. Mishra, Justice B.P. Das, Justice A.S. Naidu, Justice M.M. Das, Justice R.N. Biswal, Justice A.K. Parichha, Justice N. Prusty, Justice A.K. Samantaray, Justice Vinod Prasad, Justice H.S. Bhalla, Justice Biswanath Mahapatra, Justice S.C. Parija, Justice B.K. Nayak, Justice B.K. Misra, Justice Raghubir Dash, Dr. Justice A.K. Rath, Justice Biswajit Mohanty, Justice SatrughanaPujahari, Justice Pramath Patnaik, Justice J.P. Das, Dr. Justice D.P. Choudhury and Dr. Justice A.K. Mishra. These Judges had retired from the High Court of Orissa. Besides, the spouses of the deceased former Judges were also felicitated in the function. With this High Court of Orissa achieved another glorious milestone in its history. The members of the Bar Association, Government officials and High Court employees have also attended the function.

5. State level law Quiz for law students

While celebrating the 75th year of its establishment the High Court organized the first ever State level Quiz competition for law students in collaboration with an expert organization QShala. The quiz had 4 zonal rounds and the grand finale. To ensure participation of law students from all the districts the state was divided into 4 zones – Sambalpur, Berhampur, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack taking into consideration the density of Law Colleges in the Districts and the distance of the places from the zonal headquarters.

On 15th April, 2023 the grand finale was held at Odisha Judicial Academy, Cuttack in the presence of Dr. S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice and the Judges of the High Court of Orissa. Prizes were distributed to the teams by Dr. S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice and other Judges of the Court in a function after the grand finale. Students and teachers of various Law Colleges and Universities witnessed the final competition. The questions asked in the quiz were on the topics of Law, Politics & Social Studies from the lens of history, culture, music, movies, art and technology. While two different teams of National Law University, Odisha bagged the winning spot and the 2nd runner-up spot, the team of PG Department of Law, Utkal University secured the 1st Runner Up position. Mr. Raghav Chakrabarty, the Co- Founder and Chief Executive Officer of QShala was the quiz master in all the zonal rounds and the grand finale.

6. Felicitation of former and present Advocates General, lawyers having completed 50 years of practice

As part of the 75th year of the High Court of Orissa, the Lawyers’ Day was observed in a special way on 28th April, 2023 in a function organized at Odisha Judicial Academy by felicitating 29 senior lawyers of the High Court Bar Association who have completed 50 years in legal profession and the former and present Advocates General of Odisha. The function was presided over by Justice Dipak Misra, former Chief Justice of India in the presence of Dr. S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice and the Judges of the High Court of Orissa and Arvind P. Datar, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India.

7. Lawyer of the year 2022

On 28th April, 2023 in the same function 18 District Court lawyers having been adjudged ‘Lawyers of the Year-2022’ were felicitated along with senior lawyers of the High Court Bar Association and the former and present Advocates General. This was for the second consecutive year that ‘Lawyer of the year’ awards were presented to district court lawyers, perhaps unique in the country. The function was presided over by Justice Dipak Misra, former Chief Justice of India in the presence of Dr. S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice and the Judges of the High Court of Orissa and Arvind P. Datar, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India.

The 18 District Court lawyers are Shri Pramod Kumar Bohidar from Balangir, Shri Rajaram Mohapatra from Balasore, Shri Sankar Prasad Puruseth from Bargarh, Ms. Seema Mohapatra from Bhadrak, Ms. Soumya Sucharita Deo from Cuttack, Shri Hrusikesh Pradhan from Ganjam, Shri Sandeep Samal from Jajpur, Shri Birendra Satpathy from Jharsuguda, Shri Sachida Nanda Sahu from Kalahandi, Shri Ananta Prasad Polai from Kendrapara, Ms. Archana Dash from Kendujhar, Shri Deepankar Panigrahy from Koraput, Shri Bibhu AssisdanSagaria from Malkangiri, Ms. Husna Nesan, Shri Mahavir Prasad from Mayurbhanj, Shri Amitav Mishra from Nayagarh, Ms. Pramodini Mahapatra from Rayagada and Shri Satyabrata Dash from Sambalpur.

They were selected on the basis of their work for the entire calendar year of 2022 evaluated by the jury consisting of the District Judge, the Chief Judicial Magistrate and 3 Senior Members of the Bars from the respective districts having experience of 20 years or more. The criteria for selection were the number of cases handled by the lawyer independently during the year, number of such cases e filed by the Lawyer during the year and the number of judgments or final orders in contested cases handled independently by the lawyer during the year. It was also stipulated that the lawyer should have conducted at least one trial in civil or criminal case entirely by himself or herself, during the year by appearing for any of the parties.

8. State level Quiz competition for judicial officers

State Level Quiz for the Judicial Officers was held in 3 phases- 2 Preliminary Rounds, 6 Zonal Rounds and the Grand Finale in collaboration with an expert organisation Qshala.

On 2nd July, 2023 the Grand Finale held at Odisha Judicial Academy in the presence of Dr. S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice and the Judges of the High Court of Orissa. The questions asked in the quiz were on the topics of Law, Politics & Social Studies from the lens of history, culture, music, movies, art and technology. The Koraput team won the Quiz competition and Gajapati and Sundergarh teams became the 1st and 2nd runners-up respectively. Prizes were distributed to the teams by Dr. S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice, Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice Chittaranjan Dash in a function held after the grand finale.

9. Visit of Smt. Droupadi Murmu, Hon’ble President of India on the occasion of valedictory ceremony of the High Court of Orissa

On 26th July, 2023 the High Court of Orissa achieved a milestone as it completed 75th year of its existence. On completion of the 75th year, a Valedictory Ceremony was held at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Cuttack. The function was graced by Smt. Droupadi Murmu, President of India as the Chief Guest. A Souvenir of the High Court of Orissa containing messages of the President of India, the Prime Minister of India and various high dignitaries along with articles of legal luminaries and judicial officers on topics of law in general and the institution in particular was released in the function. A Commemorative Postage Stamp featuring the image of the High Court of Orissa was also released on the occasion. High Court of Orissa said to be the ninth High Court in the country for which a Commemorative Postage Stamp has been released by the Postal Department.

Professor Ganeshi Lal, Governor of Odisha and Mr. Jagannath Saraka, Minister of Law, ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare, Government of Odisha attended the function as the Guests of Honour. Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice, High Court of Orissa, Justice Subhasis Talapatra, Judge, High Court of Orissa, Mr. Ashok Kumar Parija, Advocate General of Odisha and Mr. Dharanidhar Nayak, President, High Court Bar Association were present in the function. Among others, the sitting and former Judges of the High Court, Senior Advocates, office bearers and members of the High Court Bar Association, officers of Postal Department and the State Government also attended the function.

10. Visit of the Hon’ble President of India to Museum of Justice and the High Court premises

After the valedictory ceremony the Hon’ble President of India visited the Museum of Justice and the High Court premises.

11. Thanksgiving ceremony on successful completion of the 75th year celebration of the High Court of Orissa

The 75th year celebration of the High Court of Orissa commenced on 26th July, 2022 and ended on 26th July, 2023. During these days various events were held under the aegis of specially constituted Judges’ committees to commemorate the mile stone such as organising of sports and cultural meets among the employees, felicitation of advocates, former Judges, legal assistants, holding quiz competition among law students and judicial officers etc. Hence in a unique way, on 28th July, 2023 the High Court of Orissa organized a function at Odisha Judicial Academy to celebrate on successful completion of 75years and acknowledge all the Judges and members of the registry for their contribution.

The Chief Justice being felicitated by Judges