Lakshadweep admin moots proposal for shifting HC jurisdiction from Kerala to K'taka

Kochi/ New Delhi: The Lakshadweep administration, which has been facing widespread protests from the islands' people over some of its policies, has mooted a proposal to shift its legal jurisdiction from the Kerala High Court to the Karnataka High Court, officials said.

The proposal was initiated by the administration after several litigations were moved before the Kerala High Court against the decisions taken by the islands' new administrator Praful Khoda Patel.

These decisions included revising standard operating procedures for Covid appropriate behaviour, introduction of the "goonda act" and demolishing hutments of fishermen for widening of roads. Patel, who is the administrator of Daman and Diu, was given the additional charge of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in the first week of December last year, when the former administrator Dineshwar Sharma died after a brief illness.

This year, as many as 23 applications, including 11 writ petitions, have been filed against the administrator of Lakshadweep and also against the alleged high-handedness of either the police or the local government of the islands.

However, for reasons best known to the island's administration, which is under the spotlight over its handling of these issues, it has made a proposal for shifting its legal jurisdiction from the high court of Kerala to Karnataka.

Efforts to seek comments from the advisor of the administrator, A Anbarasu, and Collector of Lakshadweep S Asker Ali did not fructify.

Mails to their official e-mails and WhatsApp messages did not elicit any response to a question asking the rationale behind mooting of the proposal for shifting of legal jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of a high court can be shifted only through an act of Parliament, according to the law.

"Parliament may by law constitute a high court for a Union Territory or declare any court in any such territory to be a high court for all or any of the purposes of this Constitution," according to Article 241 of the Constitution. Section 4 of the same article mentions that "nothing in this article derogates from the power of Parliament to extend or exclude the jurisdiction of a high court for a state to, or from, any Union Territory or part thereof".

Talking to news agency, Lok Sabha member Mohammed Faizal P P said, "This was his (Patel) first attempt to shift the judicial jurisdiction from Kerala to Karnataka."

"Why was he so particular to transfer it... it's totally a misappropriation of the post. The mother tongue of the people on these islands is Malayalam," he said. "One should not forget the name of the high court is Kerala and Lakshadweep High Court. This proposal was conceived during his first visit to the islands," Faizal said and asked was there a need for this and how could he justify the proposal.