Cuttack: Completion of one year of the Centre for Judicial Archives was celebrated on Wednesday under the aegis of the High Court of Orissa at Odisha Judicial Academy, Cuttack.
Dr. Prabhu Prasad Mohapatra, Professor of History, Delhi University was the Chief Guest of the function. Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice and the Judges of the High Court of Orissa were present on the occasion. Justice Debabrata Dash, Chairman and member of the RRDC Committee were also present.
Among others, Dr. Lalatendu Das Mohapatra, Director-cum-OSD of the Centre, Dr. Basanta Kumar Mallick, Consultant, History, Dr. Bijoy Chandra Mohapatra, Consultant, Law, the employees of the Centre, eminent historians and the teachers and students of various educational institutions attended the function.
Website of the Centre for Judicial Archives was launched and a Booklet on the activities of the Centre was released on the occasion.
Delivering the welcome address Justice Debabrata Dash, Chairman of the RRDC Committee presented the background of creation of the Centre for Judicial Archives and said that the role of Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar was central to it. He describes the Centre as first of its kind in the country.
Dr. Lalatendu Das Mohapatra, Director-cum-OSD, Centre for Judicial Archives said that there has been no conscious effort by any other Court in India for archiving the court records. He said the Centre has created new milestones by acquiring 63,807 records from different districts of Odisha some of which are
about 200 years old having survived the test of time. He added, these records are being scientifically preserved in the Centre for the posterity and so far 14,344 records have been provisionally catalogued as the prelude to the preparation of descriptive catalogues. Dr. Das Mohapatra informed that the records are in various languages such as Persian, Telugu, Odia, English and Bengali which will be translated by scholars are in fact translation of the Persian records has already begun. It was further informed by him that the Centre has undertaken an ambitious project of compiling the Judicial History of Odisha in two volumes for which two senior research consultants – one in history and another in law have been engaged who are to be assisted a group of young researchers from law and history disciplines. He expressed hope that the Centre would be an academic forum for integrated research in history, law, justice, archival and heritage management where seminars and symposia will be held in collaborations with different academic institutions.
Delivering the keynote address Dr. Prabhu Prasad Mohapatra, Professor of History, Delhi University said that judicial records are window to the social history of the country and some of the best histories in the world have been written using the judicial records. Giving examples of the historical works like ‘The Making of the English Working Class’ by Edward Thompson and ‘London Hanged’ by Peter Linebaugh which have been written using such records Dr. Mohapatra said there has been hardly in study of judicial records in India. He said these pioneers have shown the path to study such areas which are not illumined by great events but daily lives of workers. Drawing parallel between ‘archives’ and ‘memory’ Dr. Mohapatra said archives is to society but memory is to human beings. Highlighting the importance of proper selection in development of archives Dr. Mohapatra said that archive is produced through weeding out of unnecessary things just like memory is produced through selective forgetting.
He said Judges and Historians dwell on a common ground as both seek truth through examination and verification, the point of divergence being – the Judges have the burden to find the absolute truth whereas historians are pleased with plausible truth. While underlining the importance of archives Dr. Mohapatra lamented the absence of records relating to oppression of marginalized groups from history. Referring to the master-servant law prevailing from 17th to 19th centuries Dr. Mohapatra said that it, being an asymmetric law treating the masters and servants differently, became a tool of administration of labourers and workers as it was used to ensure systematic absence of records through state power. He said that even today 93% of the workers in India are undocumented and their cases of harassment can be conveniently hidden.
Lauding the efforts in creation of the Centre for Judicial Archives, Dr. Mohapatra termed the Centre as the ‘little Konark’ of Odisha.
Chief Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar said judicial repository is an invaluable resource for the historians and a seed in the form of the Centre for Judicial Archives has been planted which is to be nurtured by the researchers and
students for the benefit of the society. Responding to the remarks of Dr. Mohapatra, Dr. Muralidhar said in a lighter vein that like historians, absolute
truth eludes even the judges in most of the cases. He said records from some districts have been brought to the Centre for Judicial Archives and once its own building comes up, all the records prior to 1950 from the District Courts will be brought and it would be exciting to study the practice and procedures followed in the times prior to the codified laws. Referring to the remarks of Dr. Mohapatra regarding the master-servants law, Dr. Muralidhar expressed hope that probably some historians, with the help of these records, would find out the persons who have been deliberately kept out.
Highlighting the importance of documentation of judicial history Dr. Muralidhar said that National Judicial History Project, if undertaken, will immensely benefit the entire country. He thanked the British Library for sharing about 10,000 historical documents with the Centre for Judicial Archives and also the State Government for its support in setting up the Centre.
Proposing the vote of thanks Dr. Justice Sanjeeb Kumar Panigrahi thanked the Chief Justice for conceiving the idea having such a Centre and congratulated the persons associated with it.
Comments are closed.