PM to close Patna HC centenary celebrations on Mar 12

Curtains will come down on the centenary celebrations of Patna High Court on March 12 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to close the year-long programme at a function where a grand laser show and a documentary film will relive its glorious journey.
"We were constantly in touch with the PMO and finally they have agreed, and so the centenary celebrations of our court will be closed by honourable Prime Minister. We have planned a grand event, which would be graced by the Chief Justice of India as well," Registrar General of Patna High Court Vinod Kumar Sinha told PTI.

"We wanted to hold it in the first week of March, but we are glad that the prime minister has consented to close the function on March 12. Our closing celebrations would be held for two days. On March 11, we will hold some culture programmes and a dinner would be hosted for the guests.
"We have planned a laser show lasting about 20 minutes that will tell the story of the Patna High Court on a grand visual scale. Also, a 20-minute long documentary film encapsulating the journey of our court, with the aid of old pictures and archival material will be screened," Sinha said.

President Pranab Mukherjee on April 18 last year had opened the centenary celebrations on the court's famed front lawns, in the centre of which ornamental marble tablets were installed to mark the landmark occasion. The court's building, an architectural icon, was also beautifully illuminated and a souvenir was released.
Built in a neo-classical style based on a Palladian design, the grand building of the court, inspired from the new building of the Allahabad High Court, was formally inaugurated on February 3, 1916 by Viceroy Lord Charles Hardinge, who had also laid the foundation stone of this august institution on December 1, 1913.

Soon after the building's opening, a Letters Patent was issued by King George V on February 9, 1916 constituting the High Court of Judicature at Patna. The formal session of the high court began with its first sitting on March 1 the same year.

The first judges of the Patna High Court were Chief Justice Edward Maynard Des Champ Chamier and six other puisne judges including three Indians -- Justice Saiyid Shurfuddin, Justice Basant Kumar Mallick and Justice Jwala Prasad.
As part of its centenary, the High Court building has been given a fresh paint job and corridor floors and steps attached to them, are getting topped with marble slabs after removing the old stone plates of the British era, a move that has upset a section of lawyers and heritage experts.

Notwithstanding these minor issues, there is a wave of
excitement among current advocates and lawyers and also among family members of legendary barristers like Sir Ali Imam and Hasan Imam, Sir Sultan Ahmad and Saiyid Shurfuddin (among the first batch of judges), who once walked its famed corridors.
The main building with its red-coloured mansard roof punctured by dormer window is now basking in the glory of its 100 years, standing tall as a magnificent symbol of dispensing impartial justice in the province which has been through easy times and turbulent times including the country's partition and the Emergency era.

The court's main building houses the grand Marble Hall, one of the high-points of its architecture, while the wrought-ironwork on its main entrance (for judges) to the lobby and the British-era lifts add to the old-world charm. The court's iconic east lawn, which in the past had been used for the court's sporting events, has given way to an under-construction 'Centenary Building' of the high court, foundation stone for which was laid in February 2014.
"Our 'Centenary Building' (Shatabdi Bahwan) is still under construction and a large part of work is left. We had wanted it to be completed for it be opened by the Prime Minister on the occasion, but at least six more months would be needed," the Registrar General said.

"As part of the celebrations, just as during the opening of it, we would put up an exhibition of old pictures of the court and other functions from our archives and museum, in the Marble Hall," he said.
The high court since opening the celebrations last April has been holding functions and events at several local courts in some of the districts, where lawyers and judicial officers have presented papers on various subjects.
"During this one year, we have covered 37 judicial courts, spanning Rajgir, Samastipur, Hajipur, Siwan, Purnea and Bhagalpur. We have held regional-level celebrations and also those employees who have completed 50 or more years of service have been felicitated. Besides, we have screened the Patna High Court documentary at various places during this period," a senior official of the Centenary Cell told