Top five judgments by Orissa High Court in Dec 2020

Bhubaneswar, Dec 29: The Orissa High Court has taken some important decisions this month. wp:list This month, the Orissa High Court directed a medical board committee constituted by it under the chairmanship of the Director, Medical Education and Training (DMET) to carry out termination of pregnancy of a 17-year-old girl "if there was no danger to the life or well being of the victim girl." /wp:list "They have the discretion to cancel the same if during the procedure it is found that there is any danger to the life or well being of the victim girl, "said the division bench of Justice SK Mishra and Justice Savitri Ratho. The adolescent girl was allegedly abducted by a youth and her father had sought the court’s direction for termination of her pregnancy. When the bench issued the direction for termination of pregnancy of the victim girl on December 15, she was pregnant for more than 20 weeks, but less than 24 weeks. wp:list Hearing a contempt petition against the state government for a failure to comply with the Orissa High Court’s earlier orders directing the settlement of retrial benefits and amounts to a Hirakud dam employee, a division bench directed the state government to withhold the salary of Finance and Law department secretaries if accounts were not settled before the next hearing. /wp:list The petitioner had filed a contempt petition in September this year after the government failed to provide him amounts due him. The state's counsel informed the court that the process was delayed because it required the consent of the state Law and Finance departments. The petitioner Bhoi worked as a work-charge employee at Hirakud dam for 37 years before his retirement June 30, 1998. He had approached the Odisha Administrative Tribunal (OAT) in 2015 seeking pensions and other dues. After the Tribunal decreed in his favour, the state through the Water Resources Department approached the High Court, which confirmed the Tribunal's Order. The High Court last year directed the department to settle Bhoi's pension dues. After this direction was not complied with, the petitioner approached the High Court with a contempt petition. (Courtesy: barandbench.com) wp:list A division bench of the Orissa High Court has called for fast-track hearing of criminal appeals in which the appellants are still in the custody. /wp:list wp:list The Orissa High Court has set January 12, 2021 date to take stock of the progress of implementation of an action plan drawn up by it to expedite trial of pending cases against lawmakers. /wp:list wp:list Hearing an appeal of IPS officer Satish Gajbhiya, the High Court on December 8 directed the state government to retrospectively process all promotions and benefits due to the officer and his batchmates within a month. /wp:list The court also quashed all disciplinary proceedings against the officer, who is still an SP-ranked officer, currently posted as the principal of the Traffic Training Institute, Bhubaneswar. The 2002-batch IPS officer had sought quashing of the proceedings initiated against him while he was SP, Malkangiri in 2008.