Supreme Court Paves Way For Shifting Of Uttarakhand High Court To Haldwani

The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the Uttarakhand High Court's 2024 order rejecting the State government's offer of alternate land in Haldwani for relocating the High Court, which is presently situated in Nainital.

The Supreme Court opined that these are issues to be determined on the administrative side, not judicial.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana ordered that the possession of the land in Haldwani, stated to have been allocated for the new building of the High Court, be handed over to the High Court at the earliest.

A notification with respect to transfer of the land should also be issued within 8 weeks, the Court added. The order was dictated thus,

"Such like issues are not to be adjudicated in judicial proceedings. Consequently, the appeal is allowed. The impugned judgment of the High Court is set aside. The High Court of Uttarakhand on administrative side, in consultation with the State government, may resolve the infrastructural issues."

During the hearing, when it was informed that the State government has allocated land for construction of new building of the High Court in Haldwani, the bench conveyed that the possession of the land be handed over to the High Court on "as is, where is" basis within 6 weeks.

So far as it was pointed out that some trees need to be cleared from the subject land, the CJI stated that the possession of the land can be given alongwith the trees. "Greenery of the area should not be disturbed", the CJI noted.

"The High Court has no business to pass this kind of order on judicial side" the CJI further expressed to Senior Advocate AS Rawat.

The appeal was filed by the Uttarakhand High Court Bar Association challenging order passed by the Uttarakhand High Court on May 8, 2024, in which it declined to accept the State's proposal to establish the High Court at Golapar in Haldwani on the ground that nearly 75% of the 26-hectare site comprised forested land and that the Court did not want trees to be uprooted for the project. Instead, the High Court directed the Chief Secretary to identify a more suitable parcel of land within a month.

The High Court had also cited several reasons for shifting the High Court from Nainital, including traffic congestion, lack of adequate medical facilities, poor connectivity, high cost of living, accommodation difficulties faced by lawyers, and the hardships encountered by litigants travelling from remote districts. It had directed that opinions of lawyers and the public be obtained through an online portal and constituted a committee to examine the issue.

In 2024, the top Court had stayed the High Court order, while issuing notice to the respondents.

Background

The High Court, through its full court's resolution dated 15.09.2022, had resolved to shift the High Court from Nainital. It was against this backdrop that the impugned order was passed.

Earlier, land located at Golapur in Haldwani was proposed for shifting. However, this proposal was rejected in view of the fact that 75% of the land earmarked for the High Court was surrounded by dense forest.

“So this Court does not want to uproot any of the trees to make a new High Court. Every institution is established with a vision to remain established for a long period, therefore, we also want that High Court should be established at a new location so that there will be no need to shift it again in the next 50 years.,” the High Court added.

Apart from this, the Court also took into consideration other practical difficulties including the the shortage of residential houses faced by young lawyers, unaffordability of expenses by poor litigants for their stay in Nainital and lack of medical facilities.

“Keeping in view the larger public interest, hardships faced by litigants and young lawyers, lack of medical facilities and connectivity and the fact that in more than 75% of the cases, State Government is party and Government has to spend a huge amount on their TA & DA, shifting of High Court from Nainital is required.,” the Court added.

Notably, the Court had also, in its directions passed, asked the Registrar General to open a portal by May 14, 2024. In this, the lawyers were given a chance to give their choice by opting “YES” if they were interested in shifting to the High Court and “NO” if not. Apart from this, noting that the opinion of the public at large is also essential, the Court also gave the public a chance to exercise their choice in the same manner.

Appearance - Senior Advocates PB Suresh, Siddharth Luthra and AS Rawat; Solicitor General Tushar Mehta (for State government); ASG KM Nataraj

Case Title: HIGH COURT BAR ASSOCIATION V. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND., DIARY NO. - 22967/2024