The plea by one JP Singh also prayed that the common High Court for Punjab and Haryana should be bifurcated and a separate High Court should be established for Punjab at Jalandhar.
Currently, both Punjab and Haryana share a common capital (Chandigarh) and High Court.
A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora rejected the plea observing that the Courts are not empowered to change boundaries of the country or State and it is the exclusive domain of the parliament.
“This is all that was left. Someone is now asking us to redraw the map of India… Why have you (petitioner) confined yourself only to North India? You should have gone into other parts of the country as well,” the Bench remarked.
Acting Chief Justice Manmohan said that as per Article 3 of the Constitution, boundaries of any State can be changed only by the parliament and courts cannot pass directions to the legislature or decide which High Court must function from where.
“I cannot issue directions to the parliament… We don’t reorganise the boundaries of the States. We do not decide which High Court should function from where,” Acting Chief remarked.
Source: Barandbench
