Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud cutting the ribbon to inaugurate the District and Sessions Court Complex at Merces in the presence of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other dignitaries on Saturday.
Photo Credits: Narayan Pissurlenkar
PANAJI
The sprawling new District and Sessions Court Complex at Merces was inaugurated by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Saturday afternoon in the presence of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Law Minister Aleixo Sequeira and several other Judges of Supreme Court of India, Bombay High Court besides Goa’s legal fraternity.
The impressive complex has a built up area of 34,000-odd square meters and has Virtual Court rooms with digital facilities, E-Sewa Kendra, Digital Case Management and e-filing systems, accfacille facilities for PwDs, braille script on all sign boards, a Vulnerable Witness Deposition Room and witness protection rooms, exclusive space for permanent Lok Adalats, regular Lok Adalats, mediation and arbitration proceedings.
It also has a crèche facility for children of litigants and staff, a 300-sitting multipurpose hall with audio visual equipment to hold legal workshops and seminars, waiting rooms for accused persons and a medical facility.
CJI Chandrachud praised the provision made for deposition of vulnerable witnesses even as he recalled a judgement of the Supreme Court with directions for such a facility in courts across the country.
The complex whose construction first began in 2016, passed two official deadlines in 2018 and 2021, and cost Rs 120 crore.
Prominent among those who attended the inaugural event apart from the sitting judges of the Supreme Court of India and High Courts included former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Ferdino Rebello, Aldona MLA and senior Counsel, Carlos Alvares Ferreira, Advocate General of Goa Devidas Pangam, several of Goa’s senior counsels and others.
NEARLY 2-HOUR DELAY LEAVES LEGAL FRATERNITY IN AUDIENCE FUMING
PANAJI: A nearly two-hour long delay for Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other dignitaries to arrive and commence proceedings at the inauguration made several of Goa’s legal eagles and senior and junior advocates restive at the central courtyard of the new District and Sessions Court complex at Merces which was inaugurated on Saturday.
The inaugural function was scheduled for 11.30 am on Saturday and invitees were asked, for security and other reasons, to be seated one hour in advance.
Chief Justice Chandrachud and the other dignitaries, however, arrived only well past 1 pm, reportedly due to a delay in the function at the Goa Raj Bhavan where he released a book penned by the Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai.
At the North Goa District court complex inauguration venue in Merces, meanwhile, the audience which comprised mostly of lawyers, began to get restive.
Many were positioned in their seats by 11 am but there were no signs of the function commencing and the lack of communication of the reasons for the delay by the two hostesses of the event didn’t help the cause of those in the audience who were beginning to get upset. However, as Chandrachud arrived and went through the motions of cutting the ribbon, hoisting the national flag and made his way to the dais with the other dignitaries, all calmed down and paid rapt attention to the proceedings and the pearls of wisdom in the CJI’s nearly 20-minute speech.
