Ettumanoor Bar Association moves Kerala High Court challenging trial court's change of jurisdiction

The Bar Association of Ettumanoor has moved a plea before the Kerala High Court challenging a notification that redefined the jurisdictional boundaries of magistrate courts in Ettumanoor and Kottayam [Bar Association Ettumanoor v High Court of Kerala & ors]..The Bar Association has argued that the notification issued by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kottayam is contrary to Section 12 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), which governs the establishment of Judicial Magistrate Courts.Section 12 (1), BNSS allows Chief Judicial Magistrates to define the local limits within which magistrates may exercise their powers, subject to the control of the High Court. This also means that any action taken regarding the establishment or redefinition of judicial magistrate courts must be under the supervision and authority of the High Court..The matter was taken up on April 1 when Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas declined to stay the notification challenged by the Ettumanoor Bar Association and posted the case for hearing in June."I am prima facie not inclined to grant any interim order, especially since Section 12 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, commences with the words ‘Subject to the control of the High Court’. Apart from the above, Exhibit-P7 (notification under challenge) has been issued by the Chief Judicial Magistrate itself, redefining the area under his jurisdiction," the High Court reasoned. .The Bench also noted that the same Bar Association had earlier challenged a similar move in an earlier case, when the High Court ordered the Registrar General to consider the representation filed by the lawyers' body. This direction was complied with before the notification under challenge was issued, Justice Thomas observed. "Moreover, petitioner had approached this Court earlier, and Exhibit-P2 judgment was rendered, directing the Registrar General of the High Court to consider the representation submitted by the petitioner. The aforesaid direction was complied with, and thereafter, the present decision is taken by the Chief Judicial Magistrate. Hence, interim order is declined," the Court said. .The issue arose when the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kottayam issued a notification on March 17, 2025, transferring cases under Gandhinagar Police Station from the Judicial First-Class Magistrate-I (JFCM-I), Ettumanoor, to JFCM-II, Kottayam.The Bar Association Ettumanoor, representing local lawyers, challenged the move by filing a petition before the Court, arguing that it violated Section 12(1) of the BNSS, 2023..On April 1, however, the Court declined to stay the March 17 notification on finding that it appeared to have been issued after following proper procedures.The Court added that the question of whether the Bar Association's latest petition was maintainable also needed to be addressed, before posting the matter on June 3, 2025, for further hearing..Senior counsel K Jayakumar, along with advocates MP Madhavankutty, Mathew Devassi, and Angel Gyles Like appeared for the Ettumanoor Bar Association.Advocate Aneesh James accepted notice for the High Court (administrative side), the Registrar (District Judiciary) and the concerned Chief Judicial Magistrate..[Read Order]