The Eighth and Ninth Wonders of High Court Shifting!

 

It's the Eighth Wonder of the world!!! As to how much difficult, it was to understand the simple two lines of Presidential Order. It simply says the principal seat of the High Court shall be “at Nainital.”

How come this was converted to "District Nainital" or "Anyatra (Any Other place)" only finest of the legal brains of this state can understand and explain! Clearly, we, the disdained camp followers of a lost battle can't fathom this nicety of legal interpretation. 

 

The Ninth Wonder is the secrecy and denial by PIOs of State and the Court, of the RTI queries. The overzealousness shown by the state in denying the information certainly makes us feel that it really was a matter of grave National Security and we should be ashamed in meddling with such 'confidential information' of national interest!

The Constitution of India in Article 214 provides “There shall be a High Court for each State”. It does not provide for any place of sitting of the High Courts. The Uttar Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2000 under Section 26 provides the principal seat of High Court to be notified by a Presidential Order which says "at Nainital"

Mismanagement often results into deficiency. It is true to all kind of resources. Space is also one of them. A High Court, which can even afford space for homeopathy clinic has seriously considered the shifting of whole infrastructure for want of space is puzzling to say the least.  Maybe we are confusing space mismanagement with lack of space. 

Nobody knows yet, as how a homeopathy clinic could manage to obtain a comfortable space right below the nose of Chief Justices’ court when even most lawyers are still counselling their clients beneath the tree! Nobody knows yet that why a rarely rarely rarely used UP government office still has its comfortable quarter at the prime place of this High Court while juniors are still calling their clients at the flag pole for meeting?

Even presuming that Uttarakhand is a super-rich state (in truth to say so is nothing less than a tomfoolery) such mammoth exercise may also have to pass through the test of ‘reasonable expenditure of public money’ which the Court has set for all the public institutions of the state.

Lastly, such shifting to any place below the hills will strike adversely to the raison d'être of the creation of the state, which is the development of the hills and peculiar jurisprudence developed by the High Court of Uttarakhand sending public servants towards hills to serve its people.

Kartikey