The Centre for Judicial Archives, first of its kind in the country, of the Orissa High Court has created new milestones by acquiring 63,807 records from different districts of Odisha with some of them two-centuries old and surviving the test of time.

“These priceless records are being scientifically preserved at 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 Lalatendu Das Mohapatra, Director-cum-Officer on Special Duty, Centre for Judicial Archives, said,

The records are in various languages such as Persian, Telugu, Odia, English and Bengali which will be translated by scholars. The translation of the Persian records has already begun. 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 by a group of young researchers from law and history disciplines, Dr Das Mohapatra informed.

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, he said.

Highlighting the importance of proper selection in development of archives Dr Prabhu Prasad Mohapatra, Professor of History, Delhi University, said that archive is produced through weeding out unnecessary things just like memory is produced through selective forgetting.

He said that 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.

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, Chief Justice Dr S Muralidhar said yesterday on the occasion of completion of one year of the Centre for Judicial Archives.

The 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, Chief Justice Dr Muralidhar said.

Highlighting the importance of documentation of judicial history Dr. Muralidhar said “the 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.

By a notification, dated 1 May, 2022 of Home Department, Government of Odisha, the Centre for Judicial Archives of Odisha was set up. The Centre has undertaken the cataloguing and archiving of the fragile records of the High Court and district courts.

Besides, the scientific preservation, upkeep, cataloguing and digitization of those fragile records are being undertaken at the Centre in a phased manner, the HC registry added.