Kochi, Oct 31 : The Kerala High Court Saturday announced the setting up of a green bench which will hear all environment-related cases every Friday and also decided to stop the tradition of a mace holder walking ahead of the judge when he enters the court.

In a statement released here, the high court said that the green bench will start working Dec 4.

Speaking to IANS, former supreme court judge K. T. Thomas said it was on his suggestion, as a high court judge in 1985-86, that silver maces were changed to steel ones.

"Then there were a dozen silver maces and when the number of judges increased I suggested that instead of buying a silver mace which would cost Rs. 24,000 then, it is best that we go for steel maces," Thomas said.

The high court also decided to increase the number of sittings in a year by cutting the summer break from 38 days to 35. As a result, the yearly sitting would go up to 213 days.

In the statement, the high court also said that it wanted to work on Saturdays except the second one of the month, provided this was acceptable to the lawyers and others. (IANS)