Dimapur, May 11 (MExN): The Nagaland Bar Association (NBA) has underscored the lack of a separate High Court in Nagaland, in a series of letters to the Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju and Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who is also in-charge of the state Law and Justice Department.
In the letter to the Union Minister, the Association highlighted that the Gauhati High Court became the common High Court for Nagaland and subsequently, all the states in the North-East after attainment of statehood. However, over the years, other states have been granted separate High Courts while the State of Nagaland “has been put at disadvantage because of its continued placement under the Gauhati High Court,” even after 59 years of statehood.
In this scenario, the NBA representation urged the Union Minister to “take immediate steps for setting up a separate High Court for the State of Nagaland.”
The NBA also noted that it is essential to have personages knowledgeable about their State in the Bench, especially in the context of a common High Court for multiple states. In this connection, it said that only two persons have been elevated to the Bench out of which one has been transferred to the Manipur High Court. As such, it requested the Union Minister to transfer the judge back to the Gauhati High Court.
Meanwhile, in its representation to the Chief Minister of Nagaland, the NBA maintained that the existence of the state judiciary which is a vital organ of the state, in the form of a Bench, “is an embarrassment of our making.”
Referring to the NBA’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations in 2019, the NBA reminded the Chief Minister of his purported assurance for setting up a High Court in the State, and urged him to “press on and ensure that the State of Nagaland gets its own High Court without further delay.”
“We understand that there are factors which have contributed to the delay in setting up the High Court,” it acknowledged while assuring that the Association would render its “fullest support and cooperation.”
