Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) Karnataka Sunday demanded a Supreme Court bench at Bangalore to meet the needs of litigants in south India, while Haryana demanded its own high court at Chandigarh by bifurcating the existing Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The varied demands raised by various states during the daylong annual conference of the chief ministers and chief justices of states Sunday also included Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s demand to prioritise among various categories of civil and criminal cases and tackle the ones with serious implications for the society at the earliest.

The demand for an apex court bench at Bangalore was raised by Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.

“I take this opportunity to draw the attentions of Chief Justice K.G.Balakrishnan and Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily that the people hailing from the southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry and Kerala are facing considerable hardship in coming to Delhi to pursue their cases in the Supreme Court,” said Yeddyurappa.

“The phrase ‘Delhi door hai (Delhi is still far away) is still valid for the common people from these places,” he added.

“The Law Commission too, in one of its reports, has recommended setting up an apex court bench at Banagalore,” said the Karnataka chief minister, adding: “I request both the law minister and the chief justice of India to establish a Supreme Court bench at Bangalore, which is equidistant from all the southern states.”

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, on the other hand, demanded a separate high court for his state.

“My state still stands deprived of its own high court. It is our constitutional right which is being denied to the people of Haryana,” he said, adding states which have come into existence after Haryana have already set up their own high courts.

“Punjab and Haryana High Court can easily be bifurcated into two separate high courts for the two states by dividing the existing premises, judges and staff between Punjab and Haryana in the ratio of 60:40, as was done for the civil secretariat and the Vidhan Sabha infrastructure.”

While dwelling upon various means to wipe out the huge backlog of cases in Indian courts, Modi proposed that the case with larger impact on the society should be adjudicated first.

“I wonder as to any planned attempt has even been made to give priority to serious criminal cases over the less important ones and to give priority to hearings of civil and commercial matters of public importance over less important ones,” he said.

It was “worth attempting” to evolve a system, where matters of serious implications to the society and country are given priority instead of taking them up for hearing as per the normal schedule, he added.