Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday handed the “B” block of New Secretariat in the city to the judiciary in the presence of Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava.
The G+9 structure, with about 25,000sq ft space, will house a number of new courts.
During the handover ceremony, Chief Justice Shrivastava said there was a space crunch at the high court and so the state government had been requested to find a suitable place to accommodate some new courts and chambers of judges.
The chief minister said the government was eager to provide the required assistance to the high court as the judiciary held immense importance in a democratic set-up.
“We had identified the New Secretariat building to solve the problem of the high court as it is located very close to the court. The problem was that there were offices of 19 departments in the building. We decided to relocate the offices and hand it to the judiciary,” the chief minister said.
Sources said as the high court and the city civil court were facing a shortage of space, the judiciary had requested the government to arrange for about 50,000sqft of space near the high court.
“Right now, the government could arrange for about 25,000sq ft of space. In the near future, the government will try to find more space for the judiciary,” said an official.
The chief minister requested Chief Justice Shrivastava and other judges of the high court present at the programme to dispose of pending cases as early as possible and also to appoint some more women judges in courts.
Mamata pointed out that everybody should have faith in the judiciary as it was one of the most important pillars of democracy.
She, however, expressed her displeasure with some recent developments.
“I am a member of the Bar Council and I give annual subscriptions as well.… I have even argued in some human rights-related cases and I can tell from that experience that media trials should be stopped. A lot of things are being said (during the hearing), which are not linked to the final verdict,” said the chief minister.