PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Wednesday ordered the Home Department to constitute a panel of 'reputed experts' and finalise a roadmap for an Open Correctional Institution by June 15.
The Division Bench of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Amit Jamsandekar specified that the committee must include architect Anup Gadgil, Fr Maverick Fernandes, Director of the Goa Unit of Prison Ministry of India, Prof Joanna Pereira Coelho of Goa University, and a senior psychologist to be nominated by the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Goa Medical College.
“The Home Department shall… constitute a Committee of such persons or officers… We deem it appropriate to direct the Home Department to include as members… persons who are of certain standing and repute,” the court observed.
The Bench of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Amit Jamsandekar directed that the panel deliberate on the concept of an open prison as recommended by the Supreme Court and place a report on the plan and framework before the Monitoring Committee by June 15.
The matter, being heard as a suo motu petition on compliance with Supreme Court directions on open prisons, has been posted for further directions on June 17.
