Calcutta HC CJ to inaugurate Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench again

Kolkata: The Circuit Bench of Calcutta High Court in Jalpaiguri will be inaugurated again by the acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Biswanath Somadder on March 9. The activities of the Bench will begin from March 11. Sources in the Calcutta High Court said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be invited to attend the inaugural programme. Senior Justices of the Calcutta High Court are also scheduled to attend the event in Jalpaiguri. However, Nabanna sources could not confirm Banerjee's presence.

It may be mentioned that the Circuit Bench was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday without the involvement of the Calcutta High Court and the state government. The invitation to attend the inauguration reached the acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court so late that it was impossible for him to take part. The Circuit Bench presently has the minimum infrastructure with the Calcutta High Court yet to designate any Justice or other staff members.

A source in the Calcutta High Court said the infrastructure will be put in place by the first week of March so that it becomes functional from March 11.

It may be mentioned that the Chief Minister on Friday had strongly protested the inauguration and maintained that she would write to the Chief Justice of India as the entire episode took place without the involvement of the Calcutta High Court and the state government. Reiterating that the Circuit Bench is a part of the Calcutta High Court, she stated that the state had spent Rs 300 crore for setting up the Circuit Bench.

"We have provided land, spent money and put in place the infrastructure. We completed the project in consultation with the Calcutta High Court. The Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court gave the date of inauguration four months ago. Notification from the Centre had been pending as it is required for setting up a court. It did not issue any notification," Banerjee had said.

The Calcutta High Court sends the file to the state government as it provides manpower and the project gets cleared and then there is the inauguration. "But here nothing of that sort happened," the Chief Minister had said.

The decision to set up the Circuit Bench was taken in a full-court meeting of the Calcutta High Court in 1988 and was approved by the Union Cabinet in June 2006.

A team of judges had visited the proposed site in Jalpaiguri in August last year to assess the progress in the setting up of the infrastructure. A Circuit Bench is for territories which are far-flung but do not have too many matters to justify a full-fledged permanent Bench. A letter in this regard was sent by the registrar general of Calcutta High Court to the state judicial secretary on Saturday, Nabanna sources said.