HC bench sought for Gurdaspur

Karanjit Singh, a senior criminal lawyer, has demanded that the Punjab and Haryana high court should set up a bench in Gurdaspur and live up to the slogan of "Justice at your doorsteps".

Karanjit Singh, a senior criminal lawyer, has demanded that the Punjab and Haryana high court should set up a bench in Gurdaspur and live up to the slogan of "Justice at your doorsteps".

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Talking to Hindustan Times here on Tuesday, Karanjit said litigants from Gurdaspur had to unnecessarily travel a distance of 500 km to attend court hearings in the high court at Chandigarh, which was a waste of time, energy and effort.

He said Gurdaspur was economically and socially backward and people from the district cannot afford to go to Chandigarh on every hearing. "If the high court opens a bench in Gurdaspur, it should cater to the border districts of Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Amritsar and Ferozepur, besides covering Hoshiarpur, Tarn Taran and Kapurthala districts of the state," said Karanjit, urging union law minister Dr Ashwani Kumar, who hails from Gurdaspur, to clear the decision at the earliest for the convenience of residents. He said Gurdaspur deserved a high court bench as it had the required infrastructure and a new judicial courts complex was also coming up in the town at a cost of Rs 40.27 crore.