The Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant, will visit Ladakh on Sunday to inaugurate the newly constituted Ladakh bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, marking a major change in how residents of the Union Territory can access constitutional and higher-court remedies.
Ladakh Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra announced the visit at a press conference on Saturday. He said Justice Surya Kant would be accompanied by four Supreme Court judges, the Chief Justice of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, other high court judges and the Attorney General of India.
Kundra described the creation of the Ladakh bench as a significant development in the history of India’s High Courts. He said he could not recall a similar sitting bench being established for another High Court in the last 40 years, apart from the arrangement involving the Guwahati High Court and benches in Arunachal Pradesh.
The bench is intended to reduce the distance residents must travel to pursue legal remedies. Until now, people in Ladakh who wanted to file a writ petition before the High Court had to travel to Srinagar or Jammu, according to the Chief Secretary. The new arrangement will allow such proceedings to be initiated closer to where they live.
“Justice coming closer to the people is a very big thing,” Kundra said. He added that the ability to pursue a writ petition in Ladakh was an “extremely positive development” for residents who had previously faced the need to travel outside the Union Territory for access to the High Court.
Kundra said the bench had been established within two months and was not part of the demands raised during negotiations between Ladakhi political leaders and the Ministry of Home Affairs. He described it as a unilateral initiative by the Centre.
The development comes as negotiations continue between Ladakhi political leaders and the Ministry of Home Affairs. The leaders are seeking a Union Territory with a legislature and constitutional safeguards under Article 371. The creation of the bench is therefore taking place alongside wider discussions about Ladakh’s governance and constitutional arrangements.
Kundra said the Centre understood the difficulty of Ladakh’s terrain and the challenging circumstances in which people live. He said ensuring that justice was accessible closer to residents’ doorstep was crucial. The inauguration by the Chief Justice of India and the participation of senior judicial officials are scheduled to take place on Sunday.
