Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Sunday inaugurated the Ladakh Bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh in Leh and announced that the Supreme Court would dedicate a single day to hearing matters originating from the region once adequate video-conferencing facilities are available to lawyers practising before the new Bench.

The CJI said the Supreme Court would also hear these matters through video conferencing, allowing lawyers from Leh and Kargil to argue cases before the apex court without travelling to Delhi. The arrangement is intended to reduce the time and expenses incurred by litigants from the remote Union Territory.

“Once video-conferencing facilities are adequately available to the lawyers of the Ladakh Bench, the Supreme Court shall list all matters coming from Ladakh on a single day, and hear them on day to day basis also through video-conferencing,” the CJI said in his presidential address at the inauguration ceremony held at the High Court Complex in Melangthong, Leh.

“I want that Members of Leh and Kargil Bars are able to argue such cases before the Supreme Court without having to leave Ladakh, sparing litigants the time and cost of a journey to Delhi,” he added.

The CJI said the initiative would ensure that geographical distance did not prevent the people of Ladakh from accessing the country's highest court.

Supreme Court Justices MM Sundresh, PS Narasimha and Arun Palli, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court Chief Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati, Attorney General for India R Venkataramani and Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena attended the inauguration.

The President promulgated a regulation on August 28 permitting the establishment of the Ladakh Circuit Bench.

Addressing the gathering, the CJI noted that for nearly a century, the High Court serving Ladakh had been located beyond the Great Himalaya, with air travel often being the only way to reach it during winter. For litigants, including widows seeking pension benefits, mothers seeking reunion with their children and senior citizens pursuing insurance claims, travelling to the High Court could cost more than the lawyer's fee.

As a result, many people could not approach the High Court at all, he said.

Ladakh became a Union Territory in 2019, following which the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir was renamed the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. However, the CJI observed that including Ladakh in the court's name did not necessarily make the institution accessible to the region's residents.

“The High Court has today crossed the passes to reach Ladakh, instead of asking the people of Ladakh to cross the passes to reach it,” he said.

Emphasising that the new Bench must serve the entire region, the CJI said it belonged as much to Kargil as to Leh. He added that its purpose would be fulfilled only when people across Ladakh considered the Circuit Bench their own.

The CJI also highlighted the role of technology and legal aid in improving access to justice for residents of remote villages. Electronic filing, video-conferencing facilities and text-message notifications could help litigants navigate the judicial process despite the region's vast distances.

At the same time, he cautioned that technology should not become another obstacle for people unfamiliar with computers. Facilitation centres, including e-Sewa Kendras, must assist such litigants, he said.

The CJI further called for stronger legal aid services through village-level awareness camps, para-legal volunteers, free legal representation, Lok Adalats and timely compensation for survivors of crime.

“Access to justice, after all, begins not in the Court's compound, but at the litigant's door,” he said, stressing that the High Court's Legal Services Committee must work with the Ladakh Legal Services Authority to reach people who were still awaiting justice.

Describing the inauguration as another step towards bringing judicial institutions closer to Ladakh's residents, the CJI recalled his visit to the region in March to inaugurate new District Court complexes in Leh and Kargil.

Noting that the new Bench is situated approximately 3,500 metres above sea level, he said its significance lay not in its altitude but in its proximity to the people it serves.

He expressed hope that the new Bench would also encourage a generation of legal professionals from Ladakh, some of whom could eventually go on to serve as judges.