Chief Minister Narayan Rane announced the decision in a press conference at Mantralaya this afternoon. He said the procedure of handing over a dead body to relatives in case of an unnatural death will be much easier once the 14 centres start functioning with full capacity. At present, Mumbai has three coroner courts at JJ Hospital, Rajawadi Hospital and Cooper Hospital. All the three courts are overburdened with thousands of cases.

``The coroner courts are operational only in Mumbai and Calcutta. The age-old system adds to the grievances of a family in trouble. We have decided to scrap these courts and start new post-mortem centres to help citizens,'' Rane said.

He added that a provision of Rs 12.88 lakh has been made toset up the post-mortem centres at St George's Hospital, GT Hospital, KEM Hospital, Lokmanya Tilak Hospital, Nair Hospital, Bhagwati Hospital, Shatabdi Hospital, Siddharth Hospital, Cama and Albless Hospital and Mahatma Phule Hospital. The post-mortem facility at JJ, Cooper and Rajawadi will continue, Rane said.

The CM added that over 23,000 cases were still pending with the coroner courts, and the government will set a deadline to clear these cases. He said the government will soon promulgate an ordinance to this effect, and the new post-mortem centres will have the latest technology and provision of videography of the post-mortem.