Will consider demand to set up bench of Madras High Court in Puducherry: Union Law Minister

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said the demand would be considered positively, and the judiciary would be consulted in this regard; he was responding to a demand made by Puducherry CM N. Rangasamy, at an event in Puducherry on Thursday

Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju on Thursday agreed to consider the Union Territory’s demand to have a bench of the Madras High Court in Puducherry.

“We will certainly consider the demand to have a bench of the High Court here. The judiciary will be consulted whether to have a full-fledged bench or circuit bench of the High Court. It will be positively considered so that people need not travel to Chennai for appeal and litigation purposes,” the Minister said in his address, after laying the foundation stone for a lawyers’ chamber at the Integrated Court Complex in Puducherry on Thursday.

Mr. Rijiju was responding to a demand made by Chief Minister N. Rangasamy when he had addressed the gathering earlier.

CM Rangasamy also submitted a memorandum to the Minister, seeking his assistance in getting Statehood for the UT. “It is the long-pending aspiration of the people of the UT to get Statehood. Since the inception of the UT Act, many UTs have obtained Statehood; however, Puducherry still remains a UT,” the Chief Minister said in his memorandum.

Mr. Rangasamy also sought the Union Minister’s assistance in the allocation of funds by the Home Ministry or the HRD Ministry to establish a National Law School in Puducherry. The Chief Minister, in the memorandum, said the setting up of a National Law School was decided at the national conference of Chief Justices of States.

Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Attorney General of India R. Venkataramani and Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court T. Raja, were also present at the foundation laying function.