PANJIM: The North Goa District Advocates Association along with the Panjim Lawyers Forum has presented a writ petition before the Supreme Court against the moving of the district courts to Patto. This comes in response to a State order to move the courts to Patto on August 10.
At a meeting of over 100 members of the association and several lawyer forums from around the State on Wednesday, Advocate Gaurish Agni announced that they were strongly against moving the courts from the heritage building they’re currently housed in to Patto, where their main contention is the stench of garbage.
The petition that was filed in the Supreme Court is expected to come up for hearing on Friday. In the petition they have asked for a stay on the shifting of courts on August 10, and have pointed to the wasteful expenditure the government has incurred.
Agni said that despite plans of building a District Court Complex in Merces, the State government had “spent an enormous amount of money on leasing two floors of a building rather than building a complex in Merces.” He also pointed that neither the Bar nor the association were informed of decisions taken to finalise the Patto move.
The government, along with the Bar, had in 2007 narrowed down on the 49,800 square meter land in Merces to house the 22 courts after objections to a site in Porvorim were raised. Since then, members say no tenders were issued or work undertaken. Instead, the government has leased out around 4,500 square meters in Spaces building in Patto to house the courts.
In a meeting of the lawyers association held last month the association and forums deliberated over reasons to object to the Patto building. One of the many reasons they listed was difficulty in reaching courts on time as there were only two lifts to accommodate over 2,000 people that would be visiting the court as well as to move between other courts.
The issue, members stressed upon the most, was the stench and unhygienic conditions from the garbage and sewerage plant.
