R.K. Manisana, J. — In this application, the petitioners Lai Siamkunga and Raldothanga, both under trial prisoners, have challenged their detention in jail under GR Cases No. 1258 of 1989, 1259 of 1989, 1583 of 1991, 336 of 1991,408 of 1991, 395 of 1992, 507 of 1992 and 394 of 1992 pending in the Court of the Additional District Magistrate, Aizawl. GR Cases referred to above, other than GR Case No. 394 of 1992, are in respect of offences either under the Indian Penal Code or Arms Act. GR Case No 394 of 1992 is in respect of sections 392, 343 and 506, IPC, and sections 4 and 5 of the Terro­rist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA Act, for short), and is pending before the Designated Court at Aizawl. The application of the petitioners for bail has been rejected by the Designated Court. In Aizawl the Additional District Magistrate was appointed as Judge of the Designated Court. The appointment of the Additional District Magistrate as Judge of the Designated Court is questioned in the present case. 2. Under section 9 of the TADA Act, the Central Government or a State Government may constitute one or more Designated. Courts for such area or areas, or such case or class or group of cases as may be specified in the notification. Section 9 further provides that the Designated Court shall be presided over by a Judge to be appointed by the Central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government, with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court; and that a person shall not be qualified for appointment as Judge or an Additional Judge of Designated Court unless he is, immediately before such appointment a Sessions Judge or an Additional Sessions lodge in any State. 3. In States of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya (other than local limits of the municipality and a part of cantonment area), Mizoram and Nagaland, and a part of the State of Assam (which we shall collectively refer to as the Schedule Areas), Courts of Sessions have not been constituted. The ques­tion of law to be decided in this case may affect the States mentioned above and, therefore, we requested the Advocates General of Arunachal Pradesh Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland to assist the Court. We are thankful to the learned Advocates General for their assistance. 4. The ques­tion of law to be decided in this case may affect the States mentioned above and, therefore, we requested the Advocates General of Arunachal Pradesh Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland to assist the Court. We are thankful to the learned Advocates General for their assistance. 4. The question now is,- Whether a Deputy Commissioner/District Magi­strate can be appointed as Judge of the Designated Court, under the TADA Act, in the Schedule Areas ? 5. Under the respective rules of the States criminal justice is administered by the Deputy Commissioner and his Assistants. The Deputy Commissioner shall be competent to pass any sentence warranted be law, but the sentence of death or imprisonment of seven years or upwards shall be subject to confirmation by the High Court. An appeal shall lie to the High Court from any sentence passed by the Deputy Commissioner. The procedure of the High Court, the Deputy Commissioner, his Assistants and all Magistrates shall be in the spirit of the Code of Criminal Procedure as far as it is applicable to the circumstances of the Schedule Areas and consistent with the relevant Rules. 6. Section 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 runs : "This Act may be called the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. (2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir : Provided that the provisions of this Code, other than those relating to Chapters VIII, X and XI thereof, shall not apply- (a) to the State of Nagaland, (b) to the tribal areas, but the concerned State Government may, by notification, apply such provisions, or any of them to the whole or part of the State of Nagaland or such tribal areas, as the case may be, with such supplemental, incidental or consequential modifications as may be specified in the notification. Explanation, - In this section, "tribal areas" means the territories which immediately before the 21st day of January, 1972, were included in the tribal areas of Assam, as referred to in para 20 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, other than those within the local limits of the muni­cipality of Shillong. Explanation, - In this section, "tribal areas" means the territories which immediately before the 21st day of January, 1972, were included in the tribal areas of Assam, as referred to in para 20 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, other than those within the local limits of the muni­cipality of Shillong. (3) It shall come into force on the 1st day of April, 1974." (emphasis supplied) A combined reading of the explanation and para 20 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution shows that the Schedule Areas are 'tribal areas' within the meaning of the explanation. Therefore, by virtue of proviso to sub-section (2) of section 1, Chapter VIII (Sections 106 to 124), Chapter X (Sections 129 to 148) and Chapter XI (Sections 149 to 153) are applicable to the State of Nagaland and the Schedule Areas. When States of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram were Union Territories, the Central Government by notification dated 20.3.74, applied the provisions of sections 2, 3 with a new sub-section (5;, 5, 20 to 23 and 373. It may be stated here that under section 3(60) (c) of the General Clauses Act, the State Government shall mean in a Union Territorry the Central Government. The notification was issued by the Central Government in the exercise of power conferred by the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Code and those extended provisions of the Code were applied with effect from 1.4.74, the day on which the new Code came into force. Under sub-section (5) of section 3 of the Code, any reference in such of provisions of the Code, as apply to Union Territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, to the Courts of Session or Sessions Judges shall, until Courts of Session are constituted in the said Union Territories, be construed as references to the Court of District Magistrate. 7. Under section 6 of the Code, in every State, there shall be following classes of criminal Courts - Courts of Session, Judicial Magistrate of the First Class and, in any Metropolitan area, Metropolitan Magistrate; the Judicial Magistrate of the Second Class; and Executive Magistrate. Under section 9 of the Code, the State Government shall establish a Court of Session for every sessions/division; and every Court of Session shall be presided over by a Judge to be appointed by the High Court. Under section 9 of the Code, the State Government shall establish a Court of Session for every sessions/division; and every Court of Session shall be presided over by a Judge to be appointed by the High Court. In other words, Sessions Judge gets his designation as Sessions Judge as he presides over the Court of Session and thereby enjoys the power and discharges the function conferred by the Code (see Thakur Das vs. State of MP, AIR 1978 SC 1 ). The High Court may also appoint Additional Sessions Judges and Assistant Sessions Judges to exercise the jurisdiction of Court of Session. Sessions Judge includes Additional Sessions Judge as he exercises the power of the Sessions Judge under the Code (see Thakur Das (supra). 8. Under section 26 of the Code, any offence under the Indian Penal Code may be tried by - (i) the High Court, or (ii) Court of Session, or (iii) any other Court by which such offences as shown in the first schedule to be triable. Admittedly, in the State of Mizoram. no Court of Session has been constituted and consequently no Sessions Judge has been appointed. But, in the Schedule Areas the Deputy Commissioner has jurisdiction to try offences triable by a Court of Session or Sessions Judge. Therefore, the power, function and duties of a Court of Session, or a Sessions Judge, are exercised, performed and discharged by the Deputy Commissioner. As already stated, under section 3 (5) introduced by the notification of the Government of India, dated 20.3.74 referred to above, references to the Court of Session are to be construed as reference to the Court of District Magistrate, although the District Mag,s-trate is an inferior criminal Court under the Code. 9. In Bhagawati Devi vs. Uma, ALR 1961 Assam 304 (DB), this Court assumed that the Deputy Commissioner and Additional Deputy Commissioner are the highest Court of original civil jurisdiction in Meghalaya, other than the areas of local limits of Municipality of Shillong and part of cantonment area where the Court of District Judge is not constituted. It may be stated here that administration of Civil Justice is entrusted to the Deputy Commi­ssioner his Assistants, etc. It may be stated here that administration of Civil Justice is entrusted to the Deputy Commi­ssioner his Assistants, etc. under the Rules of Administration of Justice and Police in Khasi and Jaintia Hills; and that the Code of Civil Procedure is not applicable to the State of Meghalaya and the Courts are guided by the spirit of the Code of Civil Procedure. 10. In Kulendra Kumar Dey vs. Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh, 1983(1) GLR 23 this Court considered the question as to whether the Deputy Commissioner can exercise the power under section 438, CrPC, to grant pre-arrest bail as, under section 438, CrPC, only the High Court or the Court of Session has the jurisdiction to grant anticipatory bail. This Court assumed the Deputy Commissioner to be a Sessions Judge because the Deputy Commissio­ner can try the offences under the Indian Penal Code triable by the Sessions Judge under the rules similar to the rules of Mizoram. 11. It is a long standing legal position in the Schedule Areas that refare-rces to Courts of Session are construed as references to Courts of Deputy Commissioner/District Magistrate. In Lakshmipathi Naidu vs. District Educat­ion Officer, AIR 1992 SC 2003 , the Supreme Court held that long standing legal position of law should not be disturbed. Applying the principels laid down by the Supreme Court, we are of the view that, although Courts of Session have not been constituted, construction of references to Courts of Session as references to the Courts of Deputy Commissioner should not be disturbed. For the reasons stated, references to 'Deputy Commissioner' or 'District Magistrate', in the relevant rules, in the context of cases are triable by the Courts of Session, should be read as reference to 'Sessions Judge'. We hold that 'Sessions Judge' and 'Additional Sessions Judge' in section 9 of the TADA Act must be deemed to include Deputy Commissioner for the purpose of TADA Act. The question is answered in the affirmative. 12. The petitioners are under trial prisoners. In view of the decision of the Supreme Court in Saptwana vs. State of Assam, AIR 1971 SC 813 , the petition for writ of habeas corpus is rejected. 13. Before parting with the case, we deem it our duty to refer to the state of affairs relating to civil and criminal justice in the 'Schedule Areas'. In view of the decision of the Supreme Court in Saptwana vs. State of Assam, AIR 1971 SC 813 , the petition for writ of habeas corpus is rejected. 13. Before parting with the case, we deem it our duty to refer to the state of affairs relating to civil and criminal justice in the 'Schedule Areas'. As we have pointed out administration of justice is mainly in the hands of Deputy Commissioner and his Assistants who are Executive Officers; the position does not alter even if these officers are described as Deputy Commissioner (Judicial). Whatever be the description, they are essentially Executive Officers under the full control of the State Government. Appointments are made with­out reference to the High Court. It is not even certain that all the officers are Law Graduates or have experience in practice of law. We have observed in cases that the quality of justice rendered to the seekers of justice in these areas is of inferior kind. It is for the concerned Government to decide whether this state of affairs should continue or whether it should be rectified by separating the judiciary from the Executive and bringing the former under the control of the High Court. 14. In the light of the view we have expressed on the construction of section 9 of the TADA Act, it must follow that there are validly constituted Designated Courts in Mizoram. Therefore, there should be no difficulty in expeditious trial of the cases. What we have indicated regarding the State of Mizoram applies to all 'Schedule Areas' under the jurisdiction of this Court. The Civil Rule is accordingly disposed of.