Govt planned to shift Junta House offices to old High Court building

PANAJI

Now that the State government has de-sealed the old High Court building – the Lyceum Building at Altinho – following an order of the Bombay High Court, it has emerged that the government had quietly planned to shift several offices from the unsafe Junta House into the heritage complex.

Sources told The Goan that nearly 20 government offices are crammed inside Junta House, a structure declared unsafe and marked for demolition. Some offices have already moved into private rented premises, but many are still without an alternative location.

With the deadline to vacate having passed more than a month ago, officials said the government saw the Lyceum complex as a quick and low-cost solution.

“The government had earlier told the High Court about the poor state of Junta House and the danger to those working there as well as to the neighbourhood. We were waiting for a positive response. The government does not want to take over the main building in the old complex where mediation has already started, but other buildings are lying vacant,” a source said.

But sealing the building without the High Court’s approval backfired. The court registry flagged the issue, prompting the Bench to step in this week. What followed was a sharp public rebuke.

During the hearing, Acting Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Aarti Sathe asked how State officials could simply lock the premises, calling the act “very serious and shocking.”

“You have no urgency in contesting the matter, but you immediately go and put a lock. This is really very shocking. You are ready to give everything, but that does not mean you can put a lock. This cannot be done. We will not tolerate this... unlock the building,” the High Court told Advocate General Devidas Pangam, who appeared virtually for the State. The premises were de-sealed the same evening.

The hearing followed a PIL filed by lawyer Vishwesh Kamat and argued by advocate Joao Abreu Lobo, seeking to conserve the old High Court complex and use it only as a mediation and arbitration centre.

The 60-year-old Junta House complex was declared unsafe after a Public Works Department audit and was meant to be vacated by August 2. But with no alternative space available, many occupants appealed to the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) and even approached the High Court of Bombay at Goa for relief.