Bench a milestone in judicial history .... The circuit bench will be operational from March 11

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee with governor KN Tripathi (third from left) and Calcutta High Court Acting Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder (fourth from left) at the ceremony on Saturday to operationalise the circuit bench in Jalpaiguri. Biplab Basak

Avijit Sinha, TT, Jalpaiguri, 10 March 2019: Calcutta High Court acting Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder said on Saturday that the people of Jalpaiguri and the neighbouring districts had witnessed an event that would be a part of history.

He was speaking at the ceremony to mark the operationalisation of the Calcutta High Court circuit bench in Jalpaiguri.

“The event marks a new beginning in the history of this region and that is the operationalisation of the circuit bench of Calcutta High Court at Jalpaiguri. It is my privilege and honour to be a part of history to bring justice to the doorsteps of people of Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling and Kalimpong,” Justice Somadder said.

He mentioned that back on June 2, 1988, the decision was made by Calcutta High Court to set up the circuit bench here.

“Though the seeds were planted long time back, it took more than three decades to transform the dream into reality. For a long period of time, people from here have had to travel 600km to knock at the door of justice,” the judge said.

The circuit bench, which will function from the building readied by the state at Station Road of Jalpaiguri town, will be operational from March 11.

“Today, all of us are witness to this event which shall become a part of history,” he added.

At the end of his speech, the acting Chief Justice read out a letter sent by the Chief Justice of India on the occasion. “His Lordship could not come here to attend this programme but this letter….I thought I would read out to you,” the acting Chief Justice said.

Justice Somadder read out from Justice Ranjan Gogoi’s letter: “The operationalisation of High Court at Calcutta circuit bench at Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, on 9th March, 2019, would be another step in the direction of bringing justice delivery mechanism closer to the doorsteps of the litigants and I commend the efforts of all concerned in making the circuit bench operational.”