The Hindu : Staff for Madurai Bench to be transferred from High Court in two weeks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 16, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Staff for Madurai Bench to be transferred from High Court in two weeks

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI, MARCH 15. The transfer of scores of court staff and case bundles to the proposed Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court entered a decisive phase with about 135 employees being officially intimated about their transfer today.

While the employees volunteered for the transfer, at least about 200 more are required for the circuit/permanent Bench in Madurai. Their transfers are expected to materialise in two weeks, according to Registry sources.

In a counselling session of sorts held today, the 135 employees were told that their stint with the principal seat of the court would come to an end on March 31 and that they must join duty in Madurai on April 5.

Also, for all practical purposes they are to be treated as the staff of the permanent/circuit bench from today, as they are to be involved only in segregation of case bundles meant for Madurai. The process of identifying the bundles, however, started a couple of months ago, as cases being filed at that time were stamped `M'. Though the stamp is being put on all new civil, criminal and writ petitions, no final decision had been taken on giving writ jurisdiction to the Madurai Bench, the sources said. The bundles would start moving from Chennai in April first week.

The Chief Justice of India, V.N. Khare, has confirmed his participation in the formal inauguration of the Madurai Bench scheduled for April 13 and, with April 14 being a holiday, the first sitting will take place on April 15. The summer vacation for the court, starting on May 1 and extending up to mid-June, will see hectic activities in the Bench, as the transferred or newly-appointed staff must ensure that the court functioned smoothly and to its full potential when it reopens after vacation.

In order to alleviate the employees' problem of finding residences, the Chief Justice, B. Subhashan Reddy, is said to have written to Tamil Nadu Housing Board asking it not to allot to others the 120-odd vacant houses available with its Madurai division. The Government, however, is yet to pass orders in that respect.

The sources said that about 90 per cent of the building and interior works for the Madurai Bench were completed and the delivery of furniture by the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation was expected in two weeks.

Not only employees, even judges are in the dark about the possibility of their being transferred to the Madurai Bench, which will initially have seven judges.

The Chief Justice is yet to make public the list of judges to be transferred.

Meanwhile, K. Balu of the Pattali Makkal Katchi, and R. Suresh Kumar, advocates, have written to the Chief Election Commissioner, stating that the establishment of the Bench was the "function of the Centre or Parliament and not the sole discretion of court administration." Claiming that the inauguration of the Bench would prejudice free and fair conduct of election, they urged the CEC to ensure that it was kept in abeyance.

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