Apex Court Stays Uttarakhand HC Order Formulating Procedure For Shifting Principal Bench From Nainital

The Supreme Court, today, has stayed the order passed by the Uttarakhand High Court which formulated a procedure to expedite the issue of shifting the High Court from Nainital.

The High Court Bar Association, Uttarakhand, aggrieved by the order, has filed the petition before the Supreme Court.

The Bench of Justice P S Narasimha and Justice Sanjay Karol said, "We are issuing notice and granting an interim order. We need to hear further arguments. It is a decision and the order of a Court, we will have it after vacation."

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State of Uttarakhand, referred to the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 and submitted, "The principal seat of the High Court of Uttaranchal shall be at such place as the President may, by notified order, appoint. Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), the Judges and division courts of the High Court of Uttaranchal may sit at such other place or places in the State of Uttaranchal other than its principal seat as the Chief Justice may, with the approval of the Governor of Uttaranchal, appoint. So the Governor's approval is needed. Now what High Court has done is, it is more like a referendum."

Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra appeared on behalf of a caveator Advocate Supriya Juneja for the Dehradun Bar Association and said, "There is a little background in the matter, historical...There is a resolution of 2022 already there, land has been looked at in the forest area, and deforestation in the forest area cannot be done. Today this notification has not been challenged...there are two parts to it, all I am requesting is this not operate as a stay on the administrative exercise that is going on."

Justice Narasimha remarked, "We don't have an iota of doubt that whatever is done is in bonafide of the parties."

Luthra referred to the impugned order which had observed, "Keeping in view all these difficulties, which are facing by the litigants, public at large, young lawyers for the last so many years, a demand was raised by the advocate for shifting of the High Court, therefore, Full Court was convened and the Full Court of this Court by resolution dated 15.09.2022, resolved to shift this Court."

Senior Advocate PB Suresh, for the Uttarakhand High Court Bar Association, submitted "Principal Bench is an exclusive domain of Parliament of India."

The High Court had also said, "Since the date, when the High Court was established, every year, the strength of Advocates are increasing and as on today, more than 1200 Lawyers are those who are regularly practising here and out of 1200 lawyers, about 400 lawyers are young lawyers, who are facing the shortage of residential houses and the houses that are available, they are too expensive and during the peak tourist season, the owners used to compel Advocates to leave their houses, so that they may use their houses as “home stays”. Apart from this, the cost of living in Nainital is very high, as it is tourist place. The State consists of 13 districts and most of them are hilly areas and there are so many remote places from where poor litigants has to come to Nainital to file their cases, which would takes 2-3 days to reach Nainital." 

The High Court had highlighted that there is no private nursing home in Nainital and in emergencies, there is no medical facility and one of the well practising lawyers Mr Paresh Tripathi died due to a lack of medical facilities.

The High Court had ordered, "The Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand is directed to locate the best suitable land for establishment of High Court, for residential accommodation for Judges, Judicial Officers, Staff, Court Rooms, Conference Hall, Chambers for at least 7,000 lawyers, canteen, parking place, etc. and it has good medical facilities in the area and good connectivity. This entire exercise shall be completed by the Chief Secretary within a month and the Chief Secretary shall submit his report to this Court by 07.06.2024...Since opinion of practising lawyers is also very essential, therefore, Registrar General of this Court is directed to open a portal by 14.05.2024 and lawyers are free to give their choice by opting “YES” if they are interested for shifting of High Court and “NO” if they are not interested by indicating their enrolment number, date and signature. They shall exercise their option by 31.05.2024 and this date will not be extended."

Accordingly, now the petition is listed before the Supreme Court on a further date.

Cause Title: High Court Bar Association v. State of Uttarakhand (Diary No. 22967/2024)