Wait for a separate High Court
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: April 09, 2012 -
The new High Court Complex at Chingmeirong Imphal on April 07 2012 :: Pix - Bullu Raj - Poknafam
From the emerging developments following the visit of Justice Altamas Kabir of Supreme Court of India leading a host of other judges to inaugurate functioning of Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench from its newly constructed court complex at Chingmeirong and the justification of Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh over the demand for a separate high court in the state, it appears that the wait for a separate high court is going to be over sooner than later.
As of now, with exception to Sikkim, which has a separate high court of its own, the rest of the North eastern states come under the jurisdiction of the Gauhati High Court situated in Assam with benches in several northeastern states. Though judges are being sent from the Gauhati High Court to all the benches to settle cases, major cases, however, have to be heard in Gauhati High Court only.
This is not only an expensive exercise to those seeking justice, but it also slows down the process of case hearing and disposal, thus resulting in pendency of large numbers of cases.
In Manipur alone, around 4,000 cases mostly related to service matters, are pending in the Gauhati High Court at present.
So, to facilitate quicker disposal of cases and save the time as well as the money of the litigants, the people, more particularly, in Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya have been pressing the demand for having their own high courts for long.
Keenness of the Centre towards fulfilling the demand for setting up full-fledged high courts in the three states was apparent from the approval given by the Union Cabinet earlier last year (on December 7, 2011 to be precise) for establishment of separate high courts. However, for this to come into effect, the Central government, first of all, needs to amend the existing North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act, 1971, under which Gauhati High Court was initially set up as a common high court for the northeastern states.
On the persuasion of the three state governments, the Union Ministry of Law and Justice may have finalized a draft amendment of the Act for ensuring each state high court to have a Chief Justice and two judges to start with.
However, much to the surprise and contrary to the expectation of the people in these three Northeastern states, the UPA government gave a miss from introducing the proposed draft amendment Bill for getting the required stamp of approval in the last winter session. Whatever may be the reasons, but assuming that the sudden change in the position of the Centre vis-à-vis the demand for separate high courts in Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya was due to infrastructural developments that need to be taken care of, the three northeastern states have now put in place all necessary infrastructure including new high court complexes with judges' quarters and other facilities, and the wait may not be any longer.
Nonetheless, unlike in the other two northeastern states, there is an urgent need in Manipur to make a concerted effort among all concerned for exerting pressure on the Centre to expedite the process.
After all, separate high court in Manipur is essential not only for speedy trial and disposal of cases, but also for enhancing the chances of elevation to higher courts for our own home grown lawyers.
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