Sri Pitambar Acharya
Advocate General, Odisha

The office of the Advocate General was established on 1st April, 1936 along with creation of the separate province of Odisha. Justice Bira Kishore Ray, who later became the first Chief Justice of the High Court after its establishment, was the first Advocate General of the province. The province was then within the jurisdiction of High Court of Patna, with a circuit bench functioning at Cuttack. After establishment of the High Court of Orissa on 26th July, 1948 Swami Bichitrananda Das became the first Advocate General. The present Advocate General Sri Pitambar Acharya assumed office on 19th July 2024.

After establishment of High Court, the Office of the Advocate General started functioning within the High Court premises in the building provided for the purpose by the High Court of Orissa. In the meantime, the extension office of the Advocate General has been shifted to another building near the High Court. Besides, a separate building for the office of the Advocate General is being constructed by the State Govt. in front of the High Court. At present, only the first floor of the building of the High Court has been occupied by the office.

Office of the Advocate General, Odisha is a permanent establishment; it has two wings viz. Judicial and Administrative–cum-Accounts. The Judicial Wing has been subdivided by five Sections namely Writ, Civil, Criminal, Contempt, and State Case. Each Branch has been allotted with ministerial staff and supervising officers to supervise the branch. The administrative wing apart from general administration of the Office looks after maintenance of the office building, creation and appointment of staff and Law Officer and other ancillaries. The accounts section deals with all accounts matter, budget estimate etc. The confidential section which is under direct control of the Advocate General deals with all opinion files referred to by Government Departments for rendering opinion. Office of the Advocate General is well equipped with IT infrastructure to maintain database and information of all legal cases before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and Orissa High Court in the greater interest of the State.

The office of the Advocate General monitors the Litigation Management System (LMS) of the State Government devised for easy access of the pleadings and orders by the Government offices for preparation of counter affidavits and replies and for compliance of the direction of the High Court by judicial orders. The office was instrumental in facilitating digitization of the pending case records of the High Court which has been completed in the meantime. Filing of all types of cases by the Office of Advocate General is done through the e-Filing Portal of the High Court.

The Advocate General being the Chief Legal Advisor of the State is assisted by a panel of Lawyers viz. GA, AGA, SC & ASC who represent the State Govt. concerning the state litigation before the High Court of Orissa. The appointment, conditions of service, duties, rights and liabilities of Law Officers other than Advocate General for conducting cases in the High Court of Orissa and the procedure for the conduct of Government cases are governed by the Law Officers of the High Court (Recruitment, Remuneration and Duties) Rules, 1974. As on 31st December 2024, there are 81 Law Officers in the panel to assist the Advocate General.