Eleven judicial districts formed,lawyers protest

The move gives financial and administrative independence to each district court,which has been welcomed by the judiciary. Sources said this is an attempt to ensure that every metropolitan magistrate deals with an equal number of cases. Disposal is also expected to be faster.

But the Dwarka Court Bar Association filed a writ petition in the High Court against the decision,claiming that jurisdiction had been assigned “arbitrarily and against the principle of ‘justice at door step’.”

Several areas of the former West,Southwest and South districts,which were earlier being heard at the Saket and Dwarka court complexes,have been reassigned to courts in Tis Hazari and Patiala House court complexes.

The Dwarka Court Bar Association and residents of Dwarka staged a protest outside the court on Friday. “We want the government to take back its decision. If the state does not follow the directions of the High Court,we will go on an indefinite strike,” Dwarka Bar Association Secretary P S Singh said.

The association has objected that the infrastructure at the Dwarka Court complex was “lying unused”,while the court complexes at Patiala House and Tis Hazari were “overburdened”.

Help desks were set up at the facilitation centre and inside the main building at Patiala house court complex,where cases from 12 police stations of areas formerly in South and Southwest Delhi,have been shifted.

Sources say that the move will increase the pendency of cases. “We had over 1,000 cases in our court. Now with another area being added,the workload will be more,”a court staff member said.

(Yogesh is a student of EXIMS,New Delhi)