15 December 2020 12:00 am
By Sandun A. Jayasekera
After a barrage of protests from many quarters led by the opposition, the Justice Ministry has decided not to move to the World Trade Centre (WTC) paying Rs. 400 million as rent for two years.
The Ministry of Justice is scheduled to be shifted to the premises at the ‘Adhikarana Niwahana’ (Judicial Home) to which initial constructions are conducted and expected to be completed in the future and it was expected to establish the ministry at this temporary venue only for two years until the construction project is completed.
Justice Minister Ali Sabry in response to JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka who raised it during the budget debate in the House last week asked about the rationale of shifting the Justice Ministry to the WTC paying an exorbitant rent said the intention was to accommodate 20 newly appointed judges to the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal at the state-owned Justice Ministry building.
The Ministry of Justice also said nearly 800,000 cases have been filed in courts countrywide and plans are afoot to resolve them within the next five years.
“Steps are being taken to create other alternative suitable locations for the expansion of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal,” the Justice Ministry said.
Justice Ministry in a statement said the people have been gravely inconvenienced due to the unbearable number of court cases of approximately eight hundred thousand stagnated within the judiciary of this country for a considerable period as a whole and even within the Prisons too, such a congestion has been created.