PANAJI
The sprawling new District and Sessions Court Complex at Merces was inaugurated with much fanfare, flying in the then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, other judges of the Supreme Court of India besides the Bombay High Court, and the who’s who of Goa’s legal fraternity. Yet, more than four months later, the state-of-the-art building still remains unoccupied and unutilised.
The impressive complex has a built-up area of 34,000-odd square metres. It has ‘virtual courtrooms’, an E-Sewa Kendra, Digital Case Management and e-filing systems, and all modern facilities for PwDs, braille script on all signboards, a Vulnerable Witness Deposition Room and witness protection rooms, exclusive space for permanent Lok Adalats, regular Lok Adalats, and mediation and arbitration proceedings.
But nearly a dozen courts of North Goa continue to operate from their old premises at Altinho, where formerly the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court was operating before the latter was moved to its own independent premises at Porvorim.
Officials in the State’s law ministry declined to make any comments as to why the lower civic and criminal courts are yet to commence functioning from the state-of-the-art court complex at Merces.
A source who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, said the move from Altinho to Merces is now expected to happen only during the summer vacation in May.
Not just facilities for the functioning of the courts, but even the needs and comforts of lawyers, court staff, and litigants have been taken into account in the new Merces complex — it has a crèche facility for children of litigants and staff, a 300-seat multipurpose hall with audiovisual equipment to hold legal workshops and seminars, waiting rooms for accused persons, and even a medical facility.
The construction of the complex first began in 2016 and passed two official deadlines in 2018 and 2021. It eventually cost the exchequer Rs 120 crore.
Sources in the know, meanwhile, blame the delay in getting the complex operational on the difficult logistical challenge of moving files, muddemal property, and other essential equipment there.
“Inventories have to be updated. There are bound to be several faux pas in the process, with records of one court getting misplaced in the property of another. There can be zero margin of error in conducting the exercise. So it is best that it is done when the day-to-day functioning of the courts is at the minimum level, which is during the vacation,” the law ministry sources said.
