Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar on Sunday demanded a separate High Court for the State and Central assistance to the tune of Rs541 crore for augmenting judicial infrastructure. Speaking at the joint conference of Chief Ministers and High Court Chief Justices in New Delhi on Sunday, he also suggested judicial proceedings of higher courts should be webcast or telecast live. Khattar said efforts should be made to facilitate high court proceedings in Hindi in Hindi-speaking States, and in regional languages in non-Hindi speaking States while the judgements could be recorded in English until alternate arrangements are in place.
Seeking a separate High Court for Haryana, Khattar said Article 214 of the Constitution provided for a High Court for each State. “We are of the view that a separate High Court for Haryana can very conveniently be set up on the premises of the Punjab & Haryana High Court by bifurcating the building, staff and other infrastructure on the same lines as was done in the case of legislative Assembly and Civil Secretariat”, he said. The Haryana Assembly had in the past passed resolutions for creation of a separate High Court and requested the Centre to carry out necessary amendments in the relevant statutes.
Khattar also advocated for an additional bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court in southern-western Haryana, saying poor litigants from some of these far-off areas find it difficult to pursue cases in Chandigarh. He said his Government had taken a number of steps for development of judicial infrastructure and provision of adequate manpower to enable the subordinate judiciary to function effectively and “for this purpose, we need an additional central assistance to the tune of Rs541 crore”.
The initial projected requirement of funds under the 12th Plan was only Rs77.79 crore with a central share of Rs58.34 crore, he said and added it was too less for meeting the current and future requirements for construction of court complexes and residential houses for judicial officers. The Chief Minister said total pendency of cases before the Punjab and Haryana High Court was 2,79,699, of which over 1.4 lakh cases were from Haryana. Raising the issue of insufficient representation given to Haryana on the High Court bench, he said the practice in Chandigarh Administration was that 60 per cent officers were taken from Punjab and 40 per cent from Haryana.
The same principle is followed while recommending the names of lawyers and judicial officers for elevation as judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. But the Punjab Reorganisation Act nowhere prescribes for any such distribution in the ratio 60:40. “The State Government is of the view that the practice of fixing 60:40 ratio is discriminatory and against the mandate of the Constitution of India. Therefore, we legitimately feel that Haryana should be given equal representation in all deputation posts and equal representation in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. “I request the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court to support this just demand of our State”, he added.
The Chief Minister also said that the Haryana Government had already conveyed its approval to the proposal to increase the strength of judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court by 25 per cent from 68 to 85 (25%) with the request to send a comprehensive proposal with feasible time lines for filling up the existing vacancies, enhancing the strength of judges, ensuring adequacy of court room infrastructure, residential quarters and staff with adequate budgetary provisions.
He also requested the Centre to devise a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for strengthening the infrastructure and man power of the prosecution departments of states in line with the scheme for subordinate judiciary. lending support to the proposal for the creation of All India Judicial Services on the pattern of the All India services, he said that it would attract the best talent in the country.