A Permanent Bench at Naharlagun, and the Inner Line Permit that traces back to a Regulation of 1873

Background

Arunachal Pradesh does not have a High Court of its own; it is served by a Permanent Bench of the Gauhati High Court. The President of India, by order dated July 18, 2000, notified the establishment of a Permanent Bench of the Gauhati High Court at Itanagar, and provided that such Judges of the Gauhati High Court, being not less than one in number, as the Chief Justice of that High Court may from time to time nominate shall sit there. The same order has a proviso: the Chief Justice may, in his discretion, order that any case or class of cases arising in the State of Arunachal Pradesh shall be heard at Guwahati. The Gauhati High Court (Establishment of a Permanent Bench at Itanagar) order, 2000 came into force on the 12th day of August, 2000, and the Bench was inaugurated at Naharlagun, some distance from the capital town of Itanagar. The first sitting on a working day was held at 10:30 A.M. on August 14, 2000. Entry into the state is regulated through the Inner Line Permit. The Government of Arunachal Pradesh records that the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system is an offshoot of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation by which an Inner Line was prescribed for the tribal areas, and that an ILP is an official document issued by the government allowing travel into a protected or restricted area for a certain period of time. The same record places the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation in 1873 and notes the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order, 1958 alongside it.