CJI Surya Kant inaugurates Ladakh Bench of the High Court in Leh

The inauguration

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Sunday, October 18, inaugurated the Ladakh Bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh at Melongthang in Leh, according to Greater Kashmir. The bench sits at about 3,500 metres. Greater Kashmir reports that the Union government approved the bench in August and that the High Court designated Leh as its sitting venue on October 5.

Litigants in Ladakh have until now had to travel to Srinagar or Jammu for High Court cases, often over difficult terrain and in harsh weather, the reports say. Kashmir Observer quoted the Chief Justice describing a court that, for nearly a century, sat beyond the Himalayas and was reachable in winter only by air.

When it starts sitting

Greater Kashmir reports that hearings begin on October 21 and that the High Court has listed 75 cases. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati and Justice Sanjay Parihar will hear the first batch. Neither report gives the bench's jurisdiction or sitting schedule beyond this.

What was announced

• Supreme Court matters from Ladakh will be listed on a single day once lawyers practicing before the new bench have adequate video-conferencing facilities, and the Supreme Court will hear them by video conference on a day-to-day basis so that lawyers from Leh and Kargil need not travel to Delhi (Greater Kashmir, Kashmir Observer).
• The Chief Justice launched an e-Filing Portal and a Document Management System for the bench, and the High Court's Online Recruitment Portal.
• The bench is to operate as a paperless, IT-enabled court. The complex has a digitization center, filing counter, bar room, litigant waiting area, conference room and video-conferencing room.
• A "Green Wall" environmental initiative was inaugurated virtually, and work began on solar power systems at 11 locations within the judicial establishment.
• A Full Court resolution called for better access to education and safe, affordable residential facilities for girl students in Ladakh, especially those from remote areas, and asked the Regular Bench to take further action.

Who spoke

Greater Kashmir lists Supreme Court Justices M M Sundresh, P S Narasimha and Arun Palli, Attorney General R Venkataramani, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena and Chief Secretary Ashish Kumar Kundra among those present. Chief Justice Bhati said access to justice guided the bench's creation and urged the bench and bar to uphold constitutional values and protect Ladakh's fragile environment.

Rising Kashmir reports that Lieutenant Governor Saxena said the bench fulfills a long-standing demand of the people and will reduce the travel and expense burden on litigants, and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Kashmir Observer reports the Chief Justice said adding "Ladakh" to the High Court's name after 2019 was important but largely symbolic, and that the aim was a court at the litigant's doorstep.

The presidents of the Leh and Kargil Bar Associations also spoke. According to Kashmir Reader, the Leh president pledged the bar's cooperation and the Kargil president called it a historic milestone. Kashmir Reader describes a ceremonial sitting presided over by Chief Justice Bhati, and Greater Kashmir says 13 other High Court judges took part in a ceremonial sitting in Leh.