Plea to allow public access to High Court premises on a par with litigants moved
Observing that the entire judicial system is built on the concept of ‘open courts’ and denial of entry and access to public is antithesis to this concept, the Madras High Court has been moved seeking for a direction to the Registrar General to forthwith permit the entry of public into the High Court premises similar to the manner in which litigants are allowed access.
By : migrator
Update: 2019-01-25 22:04 GMT
Chennai
A division bench of Justice M Sathaynarayanan and Justice P Rajamanickam before whom the plea came up on Friday made an oral observation that such restriction of entry was caused by certain advocates owing to their unruly behaviour.
However, when the counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the public cannot be made to suffer based on protests by advocates in which the public had no role, the bench ordered notice to the Registrar General returnable by March 15.
The petitioner, Anusha Hariharan, submitted that the present grievance is not with regard to the system of either requiring a visitor pass or the frisking of people and screening of baggage. The grievance is the arbitrary bar imposed on the entry of public into the High Court, which is inter alia contrary to the principles of open justice, which is the foundation of our legal system.
Noting that only litigants who have their cases listed on a said date are issued passes and permitted to enter the court premises, she said exclusion of public from accessing courts has serious bearing on the administration of justice and such opaqueness does not aid the trust people have reposed in courts of law.
Moreover, though the notice issued by the High Court of judicature at Madras mentions ‘visitors/litigants,’ the forms issued, and the instructions issued to the security personnel manning the entry pass counters is clearly intended and designed to only permit the entry of litigants who have cases listed before the court on that day,the plea said.
Since the principle that ignorance of law is not an excuse has been imbibed in our jurisprudence, efforts to open courts and create awareness should be given priority and not efforts designed to exclude public participation, the petitioner added and sought the court to direct the Registrar General to permit the entry of public into the high court premises following the same procedure being followed to allow the entry of litigants into the court premises.
Official told to file status report on GIMs investments
The Madras High Court has directed the Additional Chief Secretary, Industries Department, to file a status report as to how many projects came into being on account of the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet, 2015, present stage of such projects, as well the MoUs reached and the agreements signed in pursuant to the present Global Investors Meet, 2019 and generation of employment.
Dismissing a plea moved by a Singapore-based company to frame guidelines to protect foreign investors from getting cheated by the tainted companies, a division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice P Rajamanickam, said, “A perusal of the materials placed as well as the submission made by the Advocate General would disclose that proper mechanism has been put in place, but at the same time, it is to be noted that the state Government is also spending considerable amount in making the Global Investors Meet, 2019 a grand success.”
Based on this, the bench on noting that the said effort should necessarily be transformed into good and proper investments, to develop industrialisation and generate employment especially for the local people for their wellbeing sought for the status report and directed the registry to post the case on June 10.
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