Delhi HC rejects plea to change boundaries, capital of Haryana, Punjab

The court noted that the plea was filed in ignorance of Article 3 of the Constitution which authorises the Parliament to form a new state, increase, diminish, or alter the boundaries or name of any state

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking to change the boundaries of the states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and also shifting the capital and high court of Haryana and Punjab.

Delhi high court (Representative Photo)

The bench headed by acting chief justice Manmohan said that the courts are not empowered to change the boundaries of the state, and the same is within Parliament’s exclusive domain.

The court noted that the plea was filed in ignorance of Article 3 of the Constitution, which authorises the Parliament to form a new state, increase, diminish, or alter the boundaries or name of any state.

“I cannot issue directions to the Parliament. We don’t recognise the boundaries of the states. We do not decide which high court should function where. This is not our domain or jurisdiction,” the court told petitioner JP Singh, who appeared in person.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Singh, a retired chief engineer, who had sought to direct the Centre to merge Meerut Commissionerate, Sonepat, Faridabad and Gurugram with Delhi and Chandigarh with Haryana, claiming that Meerut was located much closer to Delhi.

The plea also sought to shift the capital of Punjab and Haryana from Chandigarh to Kurukshetra for Haryana and Jalandhar for Punjab.

Singh had also urged the court to direct the Union government to bifurcate the common high court for Punjab and Haryana. He demanded a separate high court for Punjab in Jalandhar and for Haryana in Kurukshetra. Currently, both Punjab and Haryana share a common capital (Chandigarh) and high court.

Singh argued that the people living in Meerut found it difficult to travel to Lucknow for judicial/administrative work and people living in Amritsar and nearby areas also faced difficulty in coming to Chandigarh for such work.

Considering the submission, the bench also comprising justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora remarked that Singh, instead of confining himself to only North India, should have also sought to merge boundaries of other parts of the country.

“This is all that was left. Someone is now asking us to redraw the map of India. Why have you confined yourself only to North India? You should have gone into other parts of the country as well,” the bench told Singh.

“The court is of the view that the petition has been drafted and filed in ignorance of article 3 of the Constitution of India,” the court said in the order.