Agartala: The Supreme Court collegium has recommended three chief justices for the proposed high courts in the Northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur, officials said here on Sunday.
The three high courts are likely to start functioning in March after completion of necessary formalities.
As per the suggestions of the Supreme Court collegium, Justice T Meena Kumari, a Judge of the Patna High Court, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, is being elevated as the Chief Justice of Meghalaya.
Justice Deepak Gupta, who hails from Himachal Pradesh is being elevated as the Chief Justice of Tripura, and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre, a Judge of the Chhattisgarh High Court, is being appointed as the Chief Justice of Manipur.
The obligatory amendment to the North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act, 1971 — the North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2012 — was passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha in May 2012, paving the way for the creation of separate high courts in the three states.
With this, the total number of high courts in the country will increase from 21 to 24.
According to another official of the Tripura law department, the strength of judges in the Tripura High Court will be four, including the Chief Justice, followed by Meghalaya and Manipur with three each including the Chief Justice.
Currently, the six Northeastern states of Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh have benches of the Gauhati High Court.
It was called Assam High Court when constituted on April 5, 1948, and initially had its sittings in Shillong, now the Meghalaya capital.
It was shifted to Guwahati on August 14, 1948. Sikkim has a separate high court. (IANS)