Judges to inspect infrastructure of Jalpaiguri circuit bench

Kolkata: The judges of the Calcutta High Court will inspect the infrastructure prepared for setting up a circuit bench in Jalpaiguri this weekend, the HC administration told a bench hearing a petition in connection with the chief minister's announcement of date of inauguration. The high court administration's counsel told Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty that the team of judges would submit a report after inspection of the Jalpaiguri zilla parishad bungalow, following which a full court meeting would take a decision on inauguration of the circuit bench.

The HC administration's lawyer Joydeep Kar submitted that the zilla parishad bungalow will be a temporary set up till the permanent circuit bench complex in Jalpaiguri is ready.

Justice Chakraborty adjourned the hearing in the matter till August 9 as further argument would depend on the outcome of the inspection of the team of judges. A petition was moved before the high court on July 26, questioning the propriety of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's recent announcement that the circuit bench in Jalpaiguri will be inaugurated on August 17. Banerjee and the then Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Justice J N Patel laid the foundation stone of the circuit bench in September 2012 on a land of 40-acres given by the state government for the purpose.