Imphal: A five-member delegation of Supreme Court judges arrived at the airport in Imphal on Saturday morning and is scheduled to visit people displaced due to ethnic violence in Manipur.
The delegation comprises justices BR Gavai, Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, MM Sundresh, KV Vishwanathan and N Kotishwar.
The top court delegation led by Justice BR Gavai was accorded a warm welcome by the lawyers’ fraternity of the state at the airport.
“We are very happy to be here. We have just come here and are looking forward to the visit,” one of the visiting judges said.
The judges virtually inaugurated legal services camps, legal aid clinics and temporary medical facilities from the Mini Secretariat in Churachandpur district around 10.40 am.
The legal service camps will connect Internally Displaced Persons (IPDs) with government welfare programmes, ensuring access to vital benefits such as healthcare, pensions, employment schemes among others.
Later, the delegtaion will also visit a relief camp at Moirang College in Bishnupur.
Justice N Kotiswar Singh, who is part of the delegation and belongs to the Meitei community, will not visit the Kuki-majority Churachandpur district, amid objection from a lawyers’ body there.
As per sources, Justice Singh will head for Bishnupur district.
The All Manipur Bar Association (AMBA) has urged its Churachandpur district counterpart to withdraw its directive preventing a Meitei judge of the Supreme Court from visiting the Kuki-Zo-dominated area.
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AMBA president Puyam Tomcha Meitei said that the visit of the Supreme Court judges is historic and first-of-its-kind.
The apex court judges will also attend an event at the High Court of Manipur on Sunday.
