Union Minster of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor and former Supreme Court judge V.R. Krishna Iyer on Friday differed on the demand for a High Court Bench in Thiruvananthapuram.
At a seminar organised by Jindal Global Law School, Menon Institute of Legal Advocacy Training, and Peoples Council for Social Justice,
‘A disgrace’
Mr. Tharoor said the boycott of the function by the members of the Kerala High Court Advocates Association was a disgrace to the legal profession.
He said that the High Court as a whole would not be shifting, and only a Bench would be set up in the State capital.
He said the government was spending Rs.3 crore towards the allowances and other expenses for travel of government officials to Kochi for testifying before the High Court.
Pendency of cases
He said the huge pendency of cases in the High Court would keep lawyers “busy as they are right now.”
He also said that though the High Court had earlier refused to have a Bench in the capital city, no reason for the same had been given.
Mr. Iyer, while speaking at the function, emphasised the need for integrity of the High Court.
There would be requirements for Benches as decentralisation was essential in a democracy.
But the integrity of the High Court was essential in its entirety and wholeness. He had already written to the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court Manjula Chellur last month urging her ‘not to slice’ the High Court, Mr. Iyer said.
Panel constituted
He said the Chief Justice had already constituted a five-judge member committee to look into the issue.
There should not be pieces of the High Court, but it should be one. District-wise division of the High Court, one in Kozhikode and Malappuram, could not be allowed, he said. The need of the hour was to provide justice to the people, Mr. Iyer said.
