From Leh, a promise to the Ladakh bar: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has said the Supreme Court will arrange a Special Bench For Ladakh Cases on a single day, with counsel from Leh and Kargil allowed to argue online.
Leh: Pending matters from Ladakh will be heard by a special bench of the Supreme Court sitting on one day, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant announced on Sunday, October 18, 2026, at the inauguration of the Ladakh Bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Lawyers from Leh and Kargil will be allowed to appear online from the High Court’s conference room in Leh, which spares litigants and counsel the journey to Delhi.
The ceremony at the High Court complex at Melangthong in Leh was attended by Supreme Court Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.S. Narasimha, Chief Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani and Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
Why a Bench in Leh
Ladakh became a Union Territory in 2019, and the High Court that serves it sits across the Great Himalaya, with air travel the only route in winter. The Union approved a Ladakh Bench in August 2026, the High Court chose Leh as its seat on October 5, and hearings at the Bench begin on October 21. The Chief Justice had visited Ladakh earlier, in March, when he inaugurated the district court complexes in Leh and Kargil.
One day, one bench
Speaking of the Supreme Court’s own arrangements, the Chief Justice said:
“I will certainly make an arrangement to set up a special bench on one day.”
The plan rests on the Ladakh bar. Counsel from Leh and Kargil would argue these cases from the High Court’s conference room in Leh while the Supreme Court bench hears them remotely. “You will be allowed to appear online,” he said. Once video-conferencing facilities at the Ladakh Bench are adequate, all matters from Ladakh will be listed on a single day and heard day to day by video conference. No date has been announced for the special sitting.
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Access begins at the litigant’s door
In the Chief Justice’s remarks, the High Court had crossed the passes to reach Ladakh instead of making residents travel to it, and the Bench belongs equally to Leh and Kargil. Access to justice, he said, begins at the litigant’s door and not in the court compound. He pointed to e-filing, video conferencing and text-message notifications as tools that can help litigants, with e-Sewa Kendras to assist those unfamiliar with computers. He also called for legal aid through village awareness camps, para-legal volunteers, free access to lawyers, Lok Adalats and prompt compensation for crime survivors, and hoped the Bench would encourage a new generation of legal professionals from Ladakh, including future judges.
What it could change
A High Court bench in Leh narrows the distance between litigants and the High Court, and the Chief Justice’s announcement carries that idea to the Supreme Court, where Ladakh litigants have had to brief counsel in Delhi. If a single-day listing with online appearance is put in place, local counsel from both districts would be able to argue their own cases before the apex court.
Still to be worked out
The details are yet to be settled. There is no date for the special sitting, and the video-conferencing arrangement depends on facilities at the Ladakh Bench being made adequate.
Occasion: Inauguration of the Ladakh Bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Leh
Speaker: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant
Date: October 18, 2026
Present: Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.S. Narasimha of the Supreme Court; Chief Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati; Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani; Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena