New court complex to replace British-era Judicial Magistrate Court

An expert team led by Justice P.B. Balaji, Judge, Madras High Court, inspected the government land that was identified by the district administration for setting up the first Combined Court Complex in Vaniyambadi town on Saturday.

Court officials said that the proposed new court complex would replace the British-era dilapidated Judicial Magistrate Court in the town. “The permanent court complex is a necessity to end the ordeal of litigants, who have to travel between courts that are located in various places in the town,” said A.C. Devakumar, president, Bar Association (Vaniyambadi).

Accompanied by Collector V. Ravi Kumar, Justice Mr. Balaji, who is in-charge of Tirupattur district for court-related activities, inspected the government land near the sub-jail in the presence of District Judge M. Selvam and Chief Judicial Magistrate M.K. Anusha.

Spread over 2.25 acres, the proposed court complex will accommodate all three courts, namely Judicial Magistrate court, Subordinate Court and District Munsif court. It will also have Judges’ quarters for these courts in the complex, that will be built at a cost of ₹42 crore. .

At present, Vaniyambadi has three lower courts that are located in different areas in the town. Each court, on an average, is located at least 1.5 km away from the other court. It resulted in hardship for litigants, advocates, and court staff to commute from one court to another as some petitioners have cases in different courts that could be taken up on the same day.

In such a case, easy access to all these courts was a challenge.

The existing Judicial Magistrate Court, the oldest among three courts was located in Government Estate near the town since the 1920s. The District Munsif court was formed in 1995 and functioning from a rented room in the Commercial Tax building. The subordinate court, that was created in 2009, also functioned from a rented room in the town.