A team of eight senior Judges, including the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, Jyotirmay Bhattacharya, on Saturday visited the…
Calcutta High Court (Photo: Twitter)
A team of eight senior Judges, including the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, Jyotirmay Bhattacharya, on Saturday visited the proposed site of the Circuit Bench and its temporary building in Jalpaiguri town.
Official sources said that the judges took stock of the situation even as the government plans to inaugurate the much-awaited Circuit Bench in a temporary building near the Jalpaiguri railway station following chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s announcement earlier.
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During her last visit to north Bengal, Miss Banerjee had said that she may be in Jalpaiguri to inaugurate the Bench tentatively on 17 August. The team of judges under Mr Bhattacharya held a meeting with the state law minister Moloy Ghatak and other administrative officials in Jalpaiguri on Saturday after visiting many sites, apart from the temporary building.
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“Though the judges did not speak in public, Jalpaiguri people are expecting that Bench would start functioning soon. The judges visited various sites, including Paharpur, where a plot of land has been marked for the construction of a permanent building for the Circuit Bench,” a source said.
To check accommodation arrangements for judges and other staff of the Circuit Bench, the judges visited the Jalpaiguri Dak Bungalow, Teesta Bhawan, the annex building of the Jalpaiguri Circuit House, and housing estates located at different places, including the Jubilee Park.
Talking to reporters, law minister Ghatak said: “I should not comment on the matter. The high court will decide everything.” He, however, added that he would be in Jalpaiguri on 16 August. Legal experts, meanwhile, said that there is no need to seek a proclamation from the President of India for the Bench.
As former President Pranab Mukherjee had given his nod for the Circuit Bench here in 2013 and appointed the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court as the delegated authority, the decision still stands. “The Circuit Bench can start functioning here as the Chief Justice gets the consent from the governor,” an expert said.
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