Maharashtra HC CHIEF JUDGE SPEAK ON MISSUE OF 498A DV ACT

Chief Justice urges PWD to complete new court complexes in time

Express News Service Posted: Sep 14, 2009 at 0248 hrs

Pune Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Swatanter Kumar said that all the new court complexes in Maharashtra would be state-of-the-art structures with corporate office look. He was speaking during the foundation stone laying ceremony of the new building for family court at Shivajinagar. "All the upcoming court complexes in Maharashtra will be class structures with help from the public works department (PWD). They (PWD) do wonders when they want to," he said.

The Chief Justice voiced an open request to the PWD officials, who were present for the function, to ensure that the family court building is completed within time. "Delays hamper proper functioning of the court, which is of utmost importance and increases the cost of construction, which is unreasonable for the tax payer," he said.

Addressing the fellow judges and lawyers, Justice Kumar referred to Australia's specialist Federal Court that offers less adversarial trials that are flexible, meet the need of the situation and are less costly as compared to traditional trails. "Our lawyers, judges and counselors may study these aspects to find out whether any of such methodologies may be imported into our system," he said.

Justice Kumar stated that the child sex ration at 927:1000 is not only a sad reflection of the status of women in the country, but also a warning bell for the future. On the other hand, there are few instances of misuse of women-centric laws like 498A and domestic violence act. "Merely passing legislations cannot create equality unless we take effective steps to change our mind sets," he said.

The family court with five courtrooms, presently located in Bharati Vidyapeeth Bhavan at Alka Chowk, will be shifted at this new location once the building is ready. The new building will be three-storeyed and will house eight courtrooms. Principal Judge of Pune family court S D Joshi spoke about the need of additional facilities needed in the court. Referring to a case in 2000 where the husband had committed suicide due to his pending case at family court, Joshi said, "Pune is in a position to start a psychological service centre that help litigants in coping up with the cases. Presently, there is one such centre in Mumbai that is run by a charitable institution twice a week. A child guidance centre for children of divorcees is of equal importance in a family court."

Joshi said that the cases coming to family court are just the tip of the iceberg as many others go unreported. "However, considering the increasing number of cases in the court, we need to have a free litigation counselling centre and a legal aid office to guide the litigants in out-of-court settlements and in filing cases, only if need be," she said. "We are also expecting separate bar rooms for male and female lawyers, meeting place for litigants and lawyers and a library in the news premises," said some of the family court lawyers.

Justice V C Daga, Justice J S Bhatia, Justice J N Patel, Justice S C Dharmadhikari, Justice A A Sayyed, Pune district judge Vijay Achliya were present for the function.

Source : http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/chief-justice-urges-pwd-to-complete-new-court-complexes-in-time/516688/