This story is from February 10, 2019

Chief Justice to inaugurate Jalpaiguri bench on March 9

Chief Justice to inaugurate Jalpaiguri bench on March 9
Once Calcutta High Court’s circuit bench in Jalpaiguri starts operations, litigants from the north Bengal districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri won’t have to come to Kolkata to file petitions
KOLKATA: The newly set up circuit bench of Calcutta High Court in Jalpaiguri will start operations from March 11, a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the facility by the click of a button from Maynaguri on Friday.
Acting Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder will inaugurate it at a programme within the precincts of the circuit bench in Jalpaiguri on March 9, two days before the bench throws opens its doors for litigants.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will attend the formal inauguration programme. High court registrar general-in-charge Bikash Ranjan De has already communicated the dates to the state judicial department.
The circuit bench in Jalpaiguri had to pass through a lot of hurdles before it is being operationalised on March 11, the latest being the Prime Minister inaugurating the project on February 8 in the absence of state representatives and judges of Calcutta High Court.
The CM was dismayed with the PM inaugurating the project in a hurry when the state government gave the land and provided the necessary infrastructure for the project. “The Centre didn’t spend any money for setting up the circuit bench. The bench comes under the jurisdiction of the Calcutta High Court. The state government gave the land, spent Rs 300 crore for setting up the complex and provided the necessary infrastructure. Four months ago, the then Chief Justice, Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya, had fixed a tentative date for the inauguration. What we needed was a notification from the President of India and also from the Centre. The Union Cabinet had put things on hold for all these days and timed the inauguration with the PM’s visit. The bench belongs to the Calcutta High Court,” Banerjee had said on Friday.
Addressing a press meet, the CM said that the circuit bench cannot start operations even after the PM unveiled it. “How will the bench operate? It doesn’t have the manpower right now. A proposal in this regard has to come from the Calcutta High Court based on which the state government will sanction the posts,” she said. The high court is thus taking a month for starting operations at the circuit bench in Jalpaiguri.
Setting up a circuit bench of the high court in Jalpaiguri has been a longstanding demand of the people of north Bengal. Litigants from four north Bengal districts — Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri — won’t have to come to Kolkata to file petitions. Decks were cleared for starting operations at the circuit bench after President of India in consultation with the West Bengal governor and Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court gave life to the bench through an order titled Calcutta High Court (Establishment of Circuit Bench at Jalpaiguri) Order, 2019 on February 7.
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