President okays three high courts in northeast

Agartala, June 9 (IANS) President Pratibha Patil has given her formal approval for setting up separate high courts in three northeastern states -- Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya.

"We received the copy of the much awaited act Saturday," Tripura's Law Department Secretary Datamohan Jamatia told IANS.

A cheering Chief Minister said: "A separate high court in Tripura is a result of three decades of struggle."

A bill was passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha last month, paving the way for the creation of separate high courts in the three states.

Jamatia said the high courts would help in speedy disposal of cases, save litigants' time and money, and fulfil a long-standing demand of the states.

According to officials here, the high courts are expected to start functioning in three months.

Currently, six northeastern states -- Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh -- have benches of the Guwahati High Court. Sikkim has a separate high court.

In Tripura, over 52,000 cases have been pending in lower courts and 5,000 cases are awaiting disposal in the Agartala bench of the Guwahati High Court, an official added.