Meena Kumari poises to become Chief Justice of Manipur HC
Union Law Minister assures appointment of 4 Judges from State
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, January 18 2013: The Union Law Ministry has given the green signal for appointment of a lady lawyer as the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court, which is all set to be made functional within two months from now.

A highly placed source revealed that the proposed woman Chief Justice is likely to be T Meena Kumari, who is presently the Second Judge of Patna High Court.

It may be noted here that born on 3rd August 1951 to late Shri Janapareddy Ramakrishna Rao Naidu and late Srimati J Rajamani, Justice T Meena Kumari hailed from Yalamanchili village of Visakhapatnam district.

Her father was a lawyer by profession and her husband Shri Toom Bheemsen is also a practicing Advocate.

After the Parliament approved setting up of a separate High Court for the State of Manipur and Tripura by bifurcating from Gauhati High Court, the process for installation of a full-fledged State High Court has been started accordingly.

However, it needs to be expedited and this could be possible if only the Government of Manipur exerts pressures on the concerned authorities more vigorously, the source maintained.

The source further revealed that Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh along with delegates of High Court Bar Association met the Union Law Minister on January 16.During the meeting, Chief Minister O Ibobi was assisted by Advocate General Th Ibohal while High Court Bar Association was led by its President N Kumarjit, General Secretary Roshni Piba and Advocate RK Nokulsana.

Out of the 11 Judges which are supposed to be in Gauhati High Court, there are at present 17 Judges and since 30% of the cases fought in the Gauhati High Court belong to the State of Manipur, the joint team from Manipur urged the Union Law Minister to at least appoint 7 Judges for Manipur High Court.

The Union Law Minister, however, told the team that appointing 7 Judges at one go for the just established Manipur High Court would not be a good idea and suggested that 5 Judges be appointed initially and made further appointment as and when the need arises, the source said.

The source went on to inform that during the course of the meeting with the Union Law Minister, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh apprised the former that High Court Bar Association had been demanding appointment of all the 7 Judges for the Manipur High Court from among the qualified lawyers in the State.

The Law Minister, while listening to the appraisal of the Chief Minister with keen interest, responded positively.

From all these welcome development, there is the possibility of appointing two new Judges in Manipur High Court probably from the State of Manipur itself.

Since there are at present two Judges from Manipur in Gauhati High Court, it is most likely that their two posts would remain intact.

And since Manipur High Court is to be separated from the present Gauhati High Court, the two Judges are expected to be transferred to Manipur High Court as well, the source speculated.The two Judges from Manipur who are presently serving in Gauhati High Court are Justice Tayenjam Nandakumar and Justice Nongmeikapam Koteshwar.

Though the Union law Minister has the power to appoint Judges of Manipur High Court, the Judges are to be recommended by a Committee formed by the State Government.

As such, the State Government is on the look out for qualified Judges of the State who could be appointed to the Manipur High Court, the source added.

Comment