Chief Justice inaugurates new District Court Complex at Pulwama

Calls for resolving disputes through ‘Alternative Disputes Redressal Mechanism’

PULWAMA, NOVEMBER 13: Chief Justice Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice BadarDurrez Ahmed inaugurated Pulwama District Court Complex here today.

Administrative Judge for District Pulwama Justice Mir Yaqoob, and Law Secretary Abdul Majeed Bhat were accompanying the Chief Justice.

DIG South S P Pani, Deputy Commissioner Pulwama Ghulam Mohammad Dar, SSP Pulwama Mohammad Aslam, Principal District and Sessions Judge Pulwama SSP Traffic, Principal Secretary to Chief Justice, Joint Registrar (Judicial), senior Officers of the district administration, members of Bar Association Pulwama and a large galaxy of legal luminaries were also present on the occasion.      

Inaugurating main building at District Court Pulwama, the Chief Justice (CJ) was informed that the building constructed at Rs1231 lakh has the facilities of six courtrooms, computer room, E-Court, Lawyers chamber, 48 advocate chambers, library, record room. The CJ also inaugurated the Alternate Dispute Resolution Centre in the court complex.

During his visit, the Chief Justice emphasized on disposal of pending cases through Alternative Disputes Redressal mechanism where both the parties by resolving disputes amicability may have a win-win situation without wasting time and money.

It was given out that the complex had been constructed over a 36 kanals of land to accommodate the Court of Principal District and Sessions Judge and all subordinate courts under one roof. The total cost of the project is Rs 25.15 core with a total plinth area of 59,047 sqft and is being executed by the J&K State Housing Board.

Congratulating the District and Principal Sessions Judge of the District Court, members of the Bar Association Pulwama the judicial fraternity and the people for taking ownership of this magnificent and aesthetically designed State of Art Court Complex with all the modern facilities, the Chief Justice expressed happiness on being associated with the inaugural function. He observed that the majesty of the law is also associated with the premises from where it is exercised and hoped that the creation of the beautiful asset will go a long way in the judges rendering prompt and transparent justice.

The Chief Justice observed that the judiciary in India has played an important role since independence in strengthening the democratic framework of the country and maintaining rule of law.  He said the courts, in particular, have a unique position under the Constitution of India.  They are not only guardians of people’s rights and liberty, but also have the responsibility of ensuring that access to justice is not denied to any citizen on account of economic or other disability.

Chief Justice further said that Judiciary, which is one of the three important pillars of democracy, and is the final interpreter of the Constitution and the law.

He said that it is important to augment the courts, not only with quality infrastructure but also with quality human resources in the form of judges and judicial officers at all levels which will be the first step towards achieving the objective of timely delivery of justice.  He said that the present government and the judiciary are collectively addressing this issue through an on-going increase in the sanctioned strength of judges both at the level of the High Court as well as District Courts.  These sanctioned posts need to be filled quickly so that requisite judicial manpower is available for timely disposal of cases.

 Pointing towards the role of information and communication technology in the judicial system, Chief Justice Durrez said that in this era of information technology, Judiciary cannot remain aloof from immense benefits which IT has to offer particularly for speeding up the disposal of cases. He said that it is imperative that we speed up adoption of information and communication technology in the judicial system.  The process of computerization of district and subordinate courts is underway through the e-Courts Integrated Mission Mode project of the Central Government.

Instructions were also issued for further improvement in e-courts project to make it more user-friendly where anyone can have access to case online through recently launched software applications such as easily downloadable e-court mobile app and e-courts Services application.

Speaking on the occasion Justice Yaqoob Mir congratulated the entire judicial fraternity for the fulfilment of their long cherished demand of setting up of the modern court complex in the district with state of art facilities. He further said that lawyers play an extremely important role in enabling the public access justice. The legal profession is regarded a noble profession in every society where the rule of law prevails.

On the occasion, Law Secretary Ab Majeed Bhat announced a package of Rs 1 lakh for Bar Library. He further said that Government has released one crore for the construction residential quarters and Bar Chambers for this financial year and extra one crore has been sanctioned so that these facilities may be completed within a short period of time. Bhat said that Government is promised to give due support in addressing the problems of Bar and bench to make the institution of judiciary more vibrant and responsive.