Arunachal Pradesh to get its own HC

The Centre has in principle agreed to give a separate high court to Arunachal Pradesh for better supervision, monitoring and control over the sub-ordinate courts.

In response to Chief Minister Nabam Tuki's demand for a separate high court for the state in the Joint Conference of the chief ministers and chief justices of High Court at New Delhi yesterday, Altamas Kabir, Chief Justice of India and Union Law Minister Ashwini Kumar have agreed to the demand.

Tuki in the meeting emphasised that "as the separation of judiciary from the executive in the state is already initiated, it would be in the fitness of things that the state has its own independent high court not only for better supervision, monitoring and control over the sub-ordinate courts but also for the convenience of the poor litigants of the state," official sources said here today.

The Chief Justice and the Union Law Minister in their overall assessment of the judicial system of the country praised the performance of Arunachal Pradesh, sources said.

Chief Justice Kabir was in agreement with Tuki's assertion that the traditional 'Kebang' system practiced in the state is doing well in covering the judicial needs of the panchayat areas and the pendency of cases is negligible.

Tuki appealed for additional manpower and infrastructure development to augment the judicial system keeping in view the special category status of the state and its limited resources.

The chief minister mentioned that the state government was taking steps to separate the Judiciary in a phased manner while accordingly creating and filling up the posts, sources added.