Attached bus abandoned on the court premises

KOCHI: The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court premises, which is already reeling under space constraints, is now burdened with another headache. For the last one month, a private bus that has been attached by the district court on a direction from the High Court is lying abandoned close to the CJM court premises and is causing hardship to advocates, policemen and litigants.As the bus is close to the court premises, the policemen, advocates and litigants have to cross over a small lane to reach the court. The policemen find it hard when they bring the accused to the CJM and the additional chief judicial magistrate court. About 100 accused are brought to the court every day.The advocates also complained about lack of facilities for free movement on the court premises. Ernakulam District Court Bar Association president advocate George Merlo Pallath said that the district court officials should approach the High Court for taking away the bus to another place. “When attaching buses, it should be noted that the proceedings, including auction, should be completed at the earliest,” he said. “There is no place on the district court premises. And, it is in such a situation that an attached bus is parked here,” Pallath said. All India Lawyers Union District Court joint secretary advocate I M Manoj said that the bus should be cleared from the premises at the earliest. “The government should take steps to construct a yard for keeping the vehicles that are attached by the court. These vehicles should not be abandoned on court premises as they can pose hardships to everyone,” he said. The High Court had attached the bus as the owner had defaulted on loan. The due amount is around `8 lakh. Manoj said that legal procedures for handing over the attached vehicle to a private bank should be completed at the earliest. Earlier, there was a proposal to park the bus at the parking lot for advocates. However, it did not materialise as the parking space is not even enough for the advocates themselves.The High Court, while passing the order for attaching the vehicle, had said that the vehicle should be parked on the district court premises. As the district court premises is already packed with munsif and sub courts, treasury, public relation and information department and other departments.