High Court judge to head panel on open prison reforms

PANAJI

The Goa government has formed a State Monitoring Committee to oversee the implementation of Open Correctional Institutions (OCIs), following directions issued by the Supreme Court in a landmark prison reforms case.

The committee will be chaired by Justice Valmiki Menezes, Chairperson of the High Court Legal Services Committee. Inspector General of Prisons Keshav Ram Chaurasia, IPS, and Director (NRI) Anthony D’Souza, an officer of Additional Secretary rank in the Home Department, have been appointed as members.

The committee has been tasked with ensuring compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions on prison reforms and monitoring the functioning, use and expansion of OCIs in the State.

It will also help identify eligible prisoners for transfer from closed prisons to open correctional institutions and regularly review the progress of implementation.

The notification issued by the Home Department’s Home-General Division follows the Supreme Court’s February 26 judgment in the Suhas Chakma vs Union of India and Others case and subsequent directions by the High Court of Bombay at Goa, which took suo motu cognisance of the matter.

The committee has been directed to submit regular status reports to the High Court on the steps taken to comply with the Supreme Court’s order.

Earlier this month, the High Court criticised the State over delays in implementing the Supreme Court-mandated OCI framework and directed the government to immediately notify the formation of the monitoring committee.

During the hearing, the State informed the Division Bench of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Amit Jamsandekar that it had granted in-principle approval for a semi-open jail at Colvale, next to the existing correctional home.

However, the High Court observed that a semi-open jail was different from an OCI as proposed by the Supreme Court and directed the State to prepare a plan in line with the reform framework. The matter will next be heard on June 17.