Lakshadweep under Karnataka HC

• The Lakshadweep administration has mooted a proposal to shift its legal jurisdiction from the Kerala High Court to the Karnataka High Court.
• Past few days, the Lakshadweep administration is facing several protests and litigation against its administrator in Kerala HC.

Constitutional Provisions:

• The jurisdiction of a High Court can be shifted only through an Act of Parliament,
• According to Article 241 of the Constitution, “Parliament may by law constitute a High Court for a Union territory or declare any court in any such territory to be a High Court for all or any of the purposes of this Constitution”.
• Also, clause (4) says, “Nothing in this Article derogates from the power of parliament to extend or exclude the jurisdiction of a High Court for a State to, or from, any Union territory or part thereof”

Malayalam is the spoken as well as the written language both in Kerala and Lakshadweep and, therefore, the process could be streamlined.

• It will change the entire judicial system of the islands as all the judicial officers are sent from the Kerala High Court because of the common language and script.
• Changing of the high court would also mean extra-burden on the exchequer as all the cases, at present under trial, would have to be heard again afresh."