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Agartala: Tripura,
Manipur and Meghalaya could soon get their own high courts that
would help in quicker disposal of cases, save litigants time and
money, and fulfil a long-standing demand of these states.
All the eight northeastern states, excluding Sikkim, come under
the jurisdiction of the Gauhati High Court situated in Assam. It
has benches in several northeastern states. Sikkim has a separate
high court.
"All necessary infrastructure for the establishment of separate
high courts is ready in three northeastern states -- Tripura,
Manipur and Meghalaya," a Tripura law department official told
IANS, not wishing to be identified as he was not authorised to
make the announcement.
The central government needs to amend the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation)
Act, 1971, to set up separate high courts in the three states.
"The union Ministry of Law and Justice, on persuasion from the
three state governments, had finalised the draft amendment of the
act," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Khagen Das, Lok Sabha member from Tripura, Friday met union Home
Minister P. Chidambaram in New Delhi and demanded that the process
of setting up separate high courts in the three northeastern
states be expedited.
"Chidambaram informed me that his ministry has referred the matter
to the union cabinet for amending the necessary act. After the
endorsement of the union cabinet, an amendment bill would be
introduced in parliament," Das told IANS.
Das, who moved a private member's bill in the Lok Sabha recently,
said that he had urged the union home minister to expedite the
matter so that the necessary amendment bill could be passed in the
current session of parliament.
"The demand for a separate high court in Tripura has been
vigorously pursued from 1987. The Tripura assembly had passed
unanimous resolutions requesting the central government to set up
a separate high court," said Das, a member of the central
committee of the Communist Party of India-Marxist.
An all-party team from Tripura also met Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh June 8, 2008, over the demand.
For quick disposal of pending cases, the Gauhati High Court
introduced in May video conferencing systems with its benches
spread across six northeastern states.
The high court, which was constituted April 5, 1948, initially had
its sittings in Meghalaya's capital Shillong but shifted to
Gauhati Aug 14, 1948. It came to be known as the High Court of
Assam and Nagaland on the constitution of the state of Nagaland
Dec 1, 1963.
On the re-organisation of the northeastern region by the
North-Eastern Area (Re-organisation) Act, 1971, a common high
court was established for five northeastern states -- Assam,
Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura - and the two erstwhile
union territories (now full-fledged states) - Mizoram and
Arunachal Pradesh - and named as the Gauhati High Court.
(Sujit Chakraborty can
be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
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