Agartala, Mar 26, 2023, TRIPURA TIMES Desk

Agartala, Mar 26: Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha on Sunday inaugurated the 10th Foundation Day celebrations of the High Court of Tripura and lauded the role of the High Court in disposing cases faster than before.

In the foundation day programme Chief Justice (Acting) T Amarnath Gaud, Justice Arindam Lodh, Advocate General Siddharth Shankar Dey, Bar Council Chairman Ratan Dutta, Tripura High Court Bar Association president Senior Advocate Purushottam Ray Barman, judges of the district courts and advocates were present.

Addressing the gathering the Chief Minister asked the Chief Justice to initiate the process of filling up the vacancies in the subordinate courts, which remained pending for long. He said that the government was setting up National Law University and Judicial Academy despite the limited financial capacity. Also, initiatives were taken to set up a private law college in the state, he said.

Delivering his speech on the occasion on Sunday the Chief Justice Gaud underlined the achievement of the High Court and claimed that the number of pending cases has gradually dropped with only 1305 such cases currently lying with the court for disposal. He also said that priority is being given to the family dispute cases at large. 

The Chief Justice asked the government to set up a government bungalow for the Chief Justice and judges. He drew the attention of the Chief Minister in his speech and felt that a permanent Chief Justice for the Tripura High Court should be appointed at the earliest. He urged upon the government to take up the matter with the Centre and speed up the process of appointment of a permanent Chief Justice. He said that there was no dearth of judges.

The Chief Justice said that several initiatives have been taken for some infrastructural development of the HC and as part of this the open space in the HC premise would be converted into a Sports arena.

On the other hand, delivering his speech on the second day of the 9th Annual Judicial Conclave organised by the Tripura High Court, the Supreme Court Judge and also the former Chief Justice of Tripura High Court Sanjay Karol called upon the judges of Tripura to work with an independent mind and proper application while rendering the service of judiciary to the people of this state.  

“I was always of the view that insolation and the isolation of the judiciary is must. But we have a stake in democracy under the constitution, we cannot shut our eyes, we cannot become untouchable to the executive for after all we have to work here with a common object and common purpose and that we render justice in accordance with law,” he said.

Justice Karol shared his experience of being the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court and thanked the judicial officers, personnel staff and his colleague justices of the High Court for working tirelessly with him round the clock to render justice to the people of this state.

He was all praise for the High Court for taking the initiative of organising the 2-day long conclave which had discussion on various subjects related to the law and judiciary.

In this programme acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Tripura T. Amarnath Goud said there should be a harmonious relation between the Bench and the Bar.

He was addressing the closing session of 9th Judicial Conference of the Tripura Judicial Academy on Sunday.

Tripura’s lower judiciary and higher judiciary stand almost number one in the country because of less pendency of cases.

 “As compared to earlier statistics, Tripura’s lower judiciary and higher judiciary stand almost number one in the country-- the pendency of cases is around 45000—about 5000 cases per district. In the High Court, we have only 1300 cases pending,” the Acting Chief Justice said.

He beautifully narrated the goal of justice delivery and relation between the Bench and the Bar. In this context, he said, “as far as Tripura is concerned, I have been observing that all the officers have been doing excellent jobs except a few reasonable cases.”

Justice Sanjay Karol, judge of the Supreme Court, and Justice Arindam Lodh of the High Court of Tripura were also present in the conference. 

Several cultural programmes with the official and staff of the High Court was held on Sunday to mark the foundation day.