Haryana chief minister, Manohar Lal greeting Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal during the joint conference of CMs and Chief Justices at New Delhi on Sunday.
New Delhi, April 5, 2015: The Chief Minister, Manohar Lal, has demanded a separate high court for Haryana, equal, not 40 per cent, representation on the existing bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, an additional bench for the southern-western districts, and central assistance of Rs 541 crore for beefing up the judicial infrastructure in the state.
Speaking at the joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of high courts, presided over by the Chief Justice of India, H L Dattu, in New Delhi today, Manohar Lal suggested that judicial proceedings of higher courts should be webcast/ telecast live. Efforts should also be made to facilitate proceedings of high courts in Hindi in Hindi-speaking states, and in regional languages in non-Hindi peaking states, while the judgments could be recorded in English until alternate arrangement are in place.
Referring to the pile of pending litigations, he said that since most related to matters concerning employees of the state, local bodies and boards/corporations, the Haryana Government is remodelling its litigation policy to reduce the backlog. The conference was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
Making a pitch for a separate high court for Haryana, the Chief Minister argued that Article-214 of the Constitution provided for a high court for each state. The Haryana Vidhan Sabha had passed resolutions on 14.03.2002 and 15.12.2005 for bifurcation of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and creation of a separate high court for Haryana and requested the Central Government to move an appropriate Bill for carrying out suitable amendments in the relevant statutes. “We are of the view that a separate high court for Haryana can very conveniently be set up on the premises of the Punjab and Haryana High Court by bifurcating the building, staff and other infrastructure on the same lines as was done in the case of Legislative Assembly and Civil Secretariat”, he said.
Pressing the point home, the Chief Minister contended that since 23.03.2013, separate high courts had been set up for Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura which were earlier common with the Gauwhati High Court. This was done even though out of the total pendency before the Guwahati High Court of 52,897 cases, those from Meghalaya were only 812, from Manipur 3,794, and from Tripura 6,393. But out of the total pendency before the Punjab and Haryana High Court of 2,79,699 cases, cases from Haryana aggregate 1,40,359, more than 1,24,575 from Punjab, he added.
Raising the issue of insufficient representation given to Haryana on the high court bench, he said the practice in Chandigarh Administration was that 60 per cent officers were taken from Punjab and 40 per cent from Haryana. The same principle is followed while recommending the names of lawyers and judicial officers for elevation as judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. But the Punjab Reorganization Act nowhere prescribes for any such distribution in the ratio 60:40.
After more than 48 years of creation of the state, the ground realities have completely changed. Haryana has 21 Session Divisions and 30 Sessions Judges whereas Punjab has 19 Session Divisions and 28 Sessions judges. We have 485 serving judges as compared to 432 in Punjab. The financial contribution of Haryana to the high court is almost on par with Punjab.
“In view of these facts, we are of the view that the practice of fixing 60:40 ratio is discriminatory and against the mandate of the Constitution of India. Therefore, we legitimately feel that Haryana should be given equal representation in all deputation posts and equal representation in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. I would like to take the opportunity to request the Honorable Chief Justice of India and the Honorable Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court to support this just demand of our state”, he added.
Building case for an additional bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in southern-western Haryana, Manohar Lal said that because of the long distance, poor litigants from far-off southern and western Haryana found it difficult to pursue cases in the high court in Chandigarh. States like Rajasthan, UP and Maharashtra have high court benches away from the principal bench.
“I request the Central Government to consider our proposal for setting up of a separate bench of the high court at a suitable place in sourthern-western Haryana which will help the litigants get speedy justice at a lower cost. I would request the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court to make an appropriate recommendation to the Government of India on similar lines”, he pleaded.
Referring to judicial infrastructure, the Chief Minister said that the Haryana Government had taken a number of steps for the development of infrastructure and provision of adequate manpower to enable the subordinate judiciary to function effectively. The initial projected requirement of funds under the 12th plan was only Rs. 77.79 crore with Central share of Rs. 58.34 crore. It is too less for meeting the current and future requirements of funds for the construction of court complexes and residential houses for judicial officers. “For this purpose, we need an additional central assistance to the tune of Rs. 541 crore. We also request the Central Government to continue the scheme for the 13th plan period as well and provide the aforesaid mentioned amount to us so that the ongoing projects could be completed in time.”, he demanded.
The Chief Minister said that the Haryana Government had already conveyed its approval to the proposal to increase the strength of judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court by 25 per cent from 68 to 85 (25%) with the request to send a comprehensive proposal with
feasible time lines for filling up the existing vacancies, enhancing the strength of judges, ensuring adequacy of court room infrastructure, residential quarters and staff with adequate budgetary provisions.
Since the role of public prosecutors is vital, the strength of public prosecutors needs to be commensurate with the number of courts. He requested the Central Government to devise a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for strengthening the infrastructure and man power of
the prosecution departments of states in line with the scheme for subordinate judiciary.
Lending support to the proposal for the creation of All India Judicial Services on the pattern of the all India services, he said it would not only attract the best talent in the country. “We support the concept of creation of a separate body in the form of National Judicial Service Commission (NJSC) consisting of eminent persons from the judiciary and legal luminaries, among other professionals, in case it does not violate the constitutional mandate of Union Public Service Commission in this regard”, the Chief Minster added. / (SK Vyas, Jalandhar)
Date:
Sunday, April 5, 2015