The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : `Judiciary should not hinder welfare measures'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 12, 2006
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

`Judiciary should not hinder welfare measures'

Staff Reporter

Chief Minister says High Court Bench in capital will become a reality soon

PROJECT LAUNCH: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan inaugurates the project for a new complex for the District Court in the city on Saturday. — Photo: C. Rathessh Kumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The judiciary is not free from corruption. But people hesitate to raise allegations against it, fearing contempt of court, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said here on Saturday.

He was speaking after inaugurating a project for building an additional court complex on the Vanchiyoor court premises.

The Chief Minister said the judicial system had many limitations. Even the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had said that the judiciary in Kerala was below excellence compared with the State's high standards in education and health, he said.

He said the judiciary should fight for the rights of the oppressed and should not act as a hindrance to decisions taken by the executive and the legislature for the welfare of the public.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the constitution of a High Court Bench in the capital city was in the overall interest of the State. There were a number of cases related to the State Government in the High Court in Kochi. The distance was costing a lot of money to the exchequer by way of transport, he said.

"The demand for a High Court Bench in the city will become a reality soon," he told members of the Thiruvananthapuram Bar Association amid applause.

Minister for Law M. Vijayakumar, who presided over the function, said the court complex would be completed in a time-bound manner by 2009.

He said the Government had plans to increase the Advocate Clerks' Welfare Fund.

Minister for Home Kodiyeri Balakrishnan; Minister for Public Works T.U. Kuruvilla; V. Surendran Pillai, MLA; District Judge D. Pappachan; and District Collector N. Ayyappan participated in the function.

The 58,000 sq. ft complex will house 12 courts. Those now functioning in rented buildings in various part of the city, such as the Family Court, Sreekaryam, Vigilance Court, Pattoor, and Cooperative Tribunal, Sreekanteswaram, will be shifted to the building.

The complex will also have a Central Bureau of Investigation court, a first in the city.

The courts of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Judicial First Class Magistrate and Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate and the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal functioning at Vanchiyoor will also be shifted.

The Rs. 6.4 crore project will have provisions for library, car parking and a waiting area for litigants. The number of floors has been limited to three so that the building does not tower over the main court structure.

N. Sivaramakrishnan Nair, president, Thiruvananthapuram Bar Association, said the setting up of an additional court complex had been one of the long-pending demands of the association.

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