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‘Centre yet to get complete proposal’

NEW DELHI: Union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj has said the Centre will take necessary action on the demand to set up a Bench of the Kerala High Court in Thiruvananthapuram in consultation with the State Chief Justice after a complete proposal is received from the State government.

This information was given by Mr. Bhardwaj to Lok Sabha member Varkala Radhakrishnan in a letter dated February 20. In his letter — a response to Mr. Radhakrishnan’s question in Parliament during the Winter session — the Minister quotes the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court’s opposition to the establishment of a Bench in the State capital.

On December 4, 2007, the Chief Justice said: “The High Court has always taken a consistent stand that the establishment of a Bench of the High Court at Thiruvananthapuram is not suitable or feasible. I find no reason to deviate from that decision.”

Mr. Bhardwaj, in his letter, also quotes the Supreme Court judgment dated July 24, 2000 on a writ petition filed by the Federation of Bar Association in Karnataka for establishment of a permanent Bench of the Karnataka High Court at any suitable place in northern Karnataka. The apex court then said: “It is out of question to decide for establishment of a Bench outside the principal seat of a High Court contrary to the opinion of the Chief Justice of that High Court which has been formed after considering the views of the colleague judges.”

The Minister places on record the genesis of the demand, stating that it dates back to January 1996 when the State government submitted a proposal. At that juncture, the State government was asked to convey the views of the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court and the Governor of Kerala on the proposal in terms of Section 51(2) of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.

The State government, according to Mr. Bhardwaj, was also asked to clarify whether the proposal for establishing a Bench in Thiruvananthapuram satisfied the broad principles and criteria recommended by the Jaswant Singh Commission in this regard. Thereafter, Kerala government informed the Centre on December 10, 1999 that the necessary information would be provided at the earliest. “No further communication has been received from the State government,” the Minister said.

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