Haryana Chief Minister urges for separate High Court

New Delhi, Apr 8 (UNI) Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today urged for setting up a High Court for the state in Chandigarh.

Mr Hooda said the separate High Court for Haryana could be established on the existing premises at Chandigarh by allocating 40 per cent of the building, ministerial staff and the judges appointed against the quota of Haryana state.

Addressing the Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices, Mr Hooda said the Legislative Assembly and the secretariat were being shared by Punjab and Haryana in the ratio of 60:40.

Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said it is the duty of the Judiciary to safeguard and protect the legislations passed by the state legislatures and Parliament to fulfil the aspirations of the people.

Speaking at the conference, Mr Achuthanandan said the Kerala High Court had nullified some major provisions of the recently adopted Kerala Education Act. The Act aims at eradication of rampant commercialisation and corruption in unaided professional educational institutions and envisages merit and social justice as a criterion for admissions in the professional colleges.

The Chief Minister said another event in the state was the case of issuing arrest warrants by a judicial magistrate against two members of the Kerala legislative assembly who requested exemption from personal appearance on a particular day to attend the legislative session summoned by the Governor of the state.

He said the recent judgement of the Supreme Court on OBC reservations in higher educational institutions has attracted nation wide protests and criticism.

The delay in disposal of cases is a malady faced by the country, the Chief Minister pointed out. ''Constructive and concrete time bound measures to tackle the situation is the need of the hour,'' Mr Achuthanandan said.

UNI