RTI first, then PIL.

It seems to be the action of a lawyer, as there has been no development on setting up a high court bench in Bhagalpur despite repeated assurances from the state government.

Supreme Court lawyer and social activist Ashok Kumar Thakur, who is also a resident of Bhagalpur, had submitted a memorandum last year to the Chief Justice of India.

He has decided to file a Right to Information (RTI) with the ministers and officials concerned to know the status of his early petitions in this regard. “First, I need to have the information regarding the status of the proceedings which would help me file a PIL in Supreme Court,” he said.

In 1999, Thakur had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court requesting it to intervene in establishing the proposed high court bench in Bhagalpur to eradicate corruption. “The Supreme Court had instructed the state government to take necessary steps in setting up the same. Since then the matter has been pending with state government,” Thakur said.

The then chief minister Nitish Kumar had shown interest after receiving the memorandum on January 24, 2011, and referred it to the law department for examination.

The secretary of law department had sent the memorandum with comments of the state government in July 2011 to the registrar general of the Patna High Court to place the proposal before the Chief Justice for consent.

Thakur said the state government had already enacted the Bihar Special Courts Act, 2009, and set up two courts each in Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur. “The special court in Bhagalpur has jurisdictions over the districts of Bhagalpur, Munger, Purnea and Kosi divisions respectively. Though the courts have started functioning from January 2011, they cannot function properly since Patna has not transferred the cases yet,” he said.