KOLKATA/JALPAIGURI: The
Jalpaiguri circuit bench of the
Calcutta High Court is likely to start functioning on September 17, state government sources indicated on Friday. The bench will cater to the people of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and
Cooch Behar.
Chief minister
Mamata Banerjee, who is likely to leave for north Bengal next week, remained non-committal on the time-frame. The CM told reporters, “Setting up the circuit bench in Jalpaiguri is a 40-year-old demand.
We want it to start soon. It will benefit the people of North Bengal.”
President Ram Nath Kovind would make a formal notification for the setting up and inauguration of the circuit bench, a state government official said.
Government sources indicated that they were now waiting for the President’s nod to issue a formal timeline. The Union ministry of law and justice has already been informed, sources indicated. Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is likely to be in Kolkata on Saturday, but it is not known whether state law minister Moloy Ghatak will meet him on this issue. Ghatak remained unavailable for comment till Frisday night.
The matter was mentioned by senior lawyer Bikash Bhattacharya before the division bench of Chief Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee on Friday. Bhattacharya later told
ToI, “I brought before the court’s notice certain media reports which suggested that the chief minister and the state law minister had called on the chief justice at his residence. I urged the chief justice to direct his office to clarify the issues discussed.” Bhattacharya said, “There should be no ambiguity in public mind on this, for the HC is hearing several petitions regarding the Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench.”
Additional solicitor general Kaushik Chanda said, “To the best of my knowledge, the state has no role to play in this matter anymore. The Centre needs to send its formal nod for the circuit bench to be functional.”
Three public interest litigations and two writ petitions have already been filed in the HC regarding the circuit bench.