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Rajagopal puts Nayanar govt in a spot

On his maiden visit to Kerala in his new capacity, Union Minister of State for Law, Justice and Company Affairs O Rajagopal has put the Nayanar government in a spot over the issue of setting up of a high court bench in Thiruvananthapuram.

Adding to the worries of the Left Democratic Front government, Kerala's lone representative in the Union ministry straightaway raked up the 43-year-old issue.

Rajagopal accused the Nayanar regime of adopting a negative approach to the issue. The state government which was to have forwarded an application with the assent of the governor and the chief justice had failed to do so. It had also not cared to reply to a related query by the Centre on the Jaswant Singh Commission report, he alleged.

The Nayanar government, which had been claiming that it had sent a number of representations and requests in the form of resolutions passed in the assembly, appeared defenceless.

Chief Minister E K Nayanar finally passed the buck to the LDF Coordination Committee stating that it was up to the front panel to take a final decision on the matter.

Interestingly, the demand for setting up a bench in the state capital has been an issue in every election since the formation of Kerala. Rajagopal himself had fought the last elections, albeit unsuccessfully, on this crucial issue.

The issue dates back to the very formation of the Travancore-Cochin state in 1949 when the high court, till then located in Thiruvananthapuram, was shifted to Kochi in accordance with the agreement made at that time. However, due to the inconveniences that cropped up, a high court bench started functioning in the state capital from 1954.

In 1956, when the state was formed, the bench became redundant again thus triggering a controversy which has been raging to date. The state assembly passed its first resolution on the issue in April 1958 requesting the Centre to revive the bench after persistent strikes and the defeat of former chief minister Pattom Thanu Pillai on this issue.

Since then umpteen elections have been fought, a number of resolutions passed, representations made and public outbursts witnessed on this issue, all in vain.

Though the United Democratic Front government headed by A K Antony forwarded a request in 1996, the Centre had returned it on the ground that formalities like recording the consent of the chief justice were incomplete. Before it could take any steps to rectify the anomalies pointed out by the Centre, the Antony government bowed out of office.

The Nayanar government claimed that the earlier application was still valid. But the Centre was firm that a fresh request was needed.

The public statements by Rajagopal had succeeded in removing the protective smokescreen with which the LDF government had surrounded itself.

Interestingly, being the biggest litigant, the state government has over 30,000 cases in the high court every year, reportedly causing an expenditure of about Rs 3000 million in the form of conveyance to government officials and other expenses, besides the loss of thousands of man-days. Government officials who draw large amounts in the name of conveyance and business lobbies at Kochi were therefore not interested in having a high court bench in Thiruvananthapuram.

UNI

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