Bihar: Several courts lying vacant in Kishanganj

Kishanganj, Jul 24: Disposal of cases and dispensation of justice are being neglected at Kishanganj as a number of courts here are lying vacant for periods ranging from months to years at a stretch.

While people crying for justice are literally at the tether's end, lawyers are forced to keep their fingers crossed. They can be spotted chatting in the bar chambers or somehow killing precious time.

The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), who also happens to hold charge of Sub-Judge Court One and nazarat, has been lying vacant for over three months. Ever since the last incumbent Krishnanand Kumar, on promotion, was transferred, the vacancy has not been filled, legal sources here said.

Oddly, the court of the Sub-Judge Two had been in limbo for over five years now, as a result filing as well as disposal of civil cases has been put on the hold.

Likewise, two out of three courts of the Judicial Magistrates are lying in hibernation, one for over three and the other for over two years. Ever since the last incumbents PD Gupta and Mahendra Prasad were shifted out three and two years back respectively, these courts have been lying vacant.

Kishanganj Bar Association General Secretary Suren Saha here today said due to this delay, both the justice-seekers and the lawyers are greatly inconvenienced, and justice is naturally being delayed.

Furthermore, as the court of the Sub-Judge Two had been lying vacant for over five years, filing of civil suits and their disposal had been put on hold with civil lawyers being rendered jobless, he told.

Meanwhile, the demand for the creation of the court of the District Judge (DJ) continues to be brushed under the carpet although Kishanganj was upgraded into a full-fledged district more than 16 years back.

Bar Association General Secretary disclosed that after a delegation of the lawyers called on the then Registrar-General of Patna High Court Madhushudan Prasad and the Inspecting High Court Judge VN Singh, a sum of Rs 10 lakh was sanctioned for the construction of courts for the DJ. However, due to a wrangle over the selection of site between the judiciary and the local bureaucracy, the proposal still hangs fire.

UNI