Cal HC’s Jalpaiguri circuit bench becomes operational

Jalpaiguri: People of Jalpaiguri have been waiting for this day for the last 55 years. They lined up on both sides of the road blowing conch shells as the VVIP convoy entered the Jalpaiguri circuit bench premises for the operationalisation programme on Saturday.
The bench will be functional on and from Monday with a division bench and two single benches.
“The demand was raised almost 55 years ago.It was the consistent and thorough effort that got the bench for the region, which was inaugurated by the PM on February 8. Initially it will serve four districts,” Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi said in his speech after unveiling a plaque in the presence of CM Mamata Banerjee, Acting Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder and 31 other judges.
The CM, who had sharply criticised PM Modi’s “unilateral” inauguration of the circuit bench on February 8, said on Saturday that she did not wish “to go into any controversy on this auspicious occasion” but added that the bench could have been inaugurated earlier had the necessary notification been issued by the Centre. She also thanked retired Chief Justice Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya for his effort in making the circuit bench operational.
ACJ Somadder read out a letter from Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, congratulating the efforts of the high court in setting up the circuit bench. “This is a new beginning. I am immensely pleased to be a part of this,” Justice Somadder said.
The acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court is scheduled to stay here until the bench is fully functional. The other judges at the circuit bench will be Arindam Mukherjee, Mumtaz Khan and Madhumati Moitra.
State law minister Moloy Ghatak, however, seized the opportunity to take a tacit dig at the BJP government at the Centre.
“The Calcutta HC had decided to make the bench functional on and from September 17 last year. But for some unknown reason it took six months extra,” he said.