Judgment

SEN, J. - This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment and order of the Bombay High Court dated Dec. 14, 1981. By its judgment the High Court struck down an order dated Aug. 27, 1981 by which the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, in exercise of his powers under sub-sec. (3) of S. 51 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (Act XXXVII of 1956) (for short the Act) with the prior approval of the Governor of Maharashtra, directed that the Judges and Division Courts of the High Court of Bombay shall also sit at Aurangabad with effect from Aug. 27, 1981 for the disposal of cases arising out of the Marathwada region of the State of Maharashtra.

2. By an order dated May 4, 1982 (since reported in AIR 1982 SC 1198), we allowed the appeal and set aside the judgment of the High Court since it did not appear to us that the impugned order issued by the Chief Justice suffered from any infirmity, legal or constitutional. We now proceed to give our reasons.

3. By virtue of sub-section (1) of S. 49, the High Court of Bombay exercising immediately before the appointed day i. e. Nov. 1, 1956, jurisdiction in relation to the existing State of Bombay, was deemed to be the High Court for the new state of Bombay constituted under sub-section (1) at S. 8 of the Act. Immediately before the appointed day, i.e. on Oct. 21, 1956, the Central Government while telegraphically communicating to the then Chief justice (Chagla, C. J.) the issue of a Presidential Order under sub-sec. (1) of S. 51 of the Act appointing Bombay to be the principal seat of the High Court for the new State of Bombay with effect from Nov. 1, 1956, conveyed that as from that date the High Court shall function only at that place unless the Chief Justice issued an order under sub-section (3) of S. 51 of the Act that temporary Benches may also function at other places. The then Chief Justice was advised that he should issue such notification an the appointed day, i.e. Nov. 1, 1956, for the establishment of Circuit Benches at Nagpur and Rajkot with a view to preserve the continuity of judicial administration, since the High Court of Madhya Pradesh had its principal seat at Nagpur and the High Court of Saurashtra at Rajkot, Prior to the appointed day. The then Chief Justice accordingly issued an order under sub-section (3) of S. 51 of the Act with the prior approval of the Governor by which he appointed Nagpur and Rajkot to be places at which the Judges and Division Courts of the Bombay High Court would also sit with effect from Nov. 1, 1956. The two Benches at Nagpur and Rajkot continued to function till May 1, 1960 when the bilingual State of Bombay was bifurcated into two separate States - The State of Maharashtra and the State of Gujarat - by the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960 (Act ) XI of 1960).

4. Prior to the constitution of the States Reorganisation Commission in Dec. 1953, leaders of political parties from the Marathi speaking areas in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions and of the then State of Bombay signed an agreement or pact called the Nagpur Pact on Sept. 23, 1953 which formed a basis for joint representation to the States Reorganisation Commission and was the basis for the formation of Maharashtra as a new State for the Marathi-speaking people of the former State of Bombay, the Vidarbha region of the former State of Madhya Pradesh, and the Marathwada region of the erstwhile State of Hyderabad. Clause (7) of the Nagpur Pact provides that the provision with regard to the establishment of a permanent Bench of the High Court at Nagpur shall apply mutatis mutandis to the Marathwada region.

5. It appears that due to continued demand of the people of Marathwada region for the establishment of a permanent Bench of the High Court at Aurangabad under sub-section (2) of Sec. 51 of the Act, the State Government first took up the issue with the then Chief Justice (Kantawala, C.J.) In 1977. On March 22, 1978, the State Legislative Assembly passed a unanimous re