HC panel turns down CM’s demand for bench in Haryana

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal’s demand for a separate high court bench has not found favour with a committee of four Punjab and Haryana High Court judges set up to deliberate on the matter, said people aware of the development.


The CM had wanted a bench in southern or western Haryana and had sent a proposal on the matter to the central government in April 2015. The Centre forwarded this to the HC in May. The committee of four senior judges was constituted by the high court in July 2015.


The committee “examined the issue comprehensively and has submitted a detailed report,” said one of the people cited above.

The committee has held that “the principal seat of Punjab and Haryana HC at Chandigarh is aptly located and there is no need for setting up a separate bench.” Its findings are said to have been conveyed recently to the CM.

The committee had examined a leading Supreme Court judgement on separate high court benches, said the people cited above.

Khattar had also raised the demand in April at the conference of chief justices and chief ministers of all states held in Delhi in 2015.