After eight years of waiting for permissions and go-aheads from various government departments, the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) on Thursday managed to finally open its forensic training centre that was constructed in 2007 on the campus. The formal inauguration was conducted by outgoing DG Meeran Borwankar. Sources said it was only after hectic parleying between FSL officials and government departments concerned that the permission to inaugurate the two-storey structure finally came. The training centre was envisaged as a space where judges, policemen, prosecutors and lawyers could be trained in how forensics apply to law. [related-post] Rukmini Krishnamoorthy, Maharashtra FSL chief between 2002 and 2008, said as part of a committee on “Reform of criminal justice system”, she had highlighted that it was necessary all the arms of the justice system co-ordinate with one another. “Hence, there was a proposal for setting up of the training centre in 2004 where all arms of the law could meet and be trained in forensics. While the construction was over in 2007, the Public Works Department (PWD) did not give us an NOC citing some technical issues. Until I retired in 2008, we could not inaugurate it,” Krishnamoorthy told The Indian Express. An official said for years after that, they kept writing letters to the PWD and to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) but permissions remained pending. As late as 2014, several officials from the PWD with whom the FSL had been co-ordinating with were suspended by the government on alleged corruption charges. “The process then had to be started again,” said an official. He added, “When we contacted the civic body for getting the Occupation Certificate (OC) for the training centre, they told us to give the setback area from our compound in Kalina which they need for the road widening process. They told us that once that was done they would give the OC.” Unhappy, the top brass of the FSL, led by Borwankar in late 2015 co-ordinated with the government on the delays. They discovered that since it was a government building, the agency actually did not require an OC for the training centre and could start functioning, said an official. Accordingly, the FSL approached the PWD again, which completed the process of wiring and other minor issues, following which in April the FSL staff started using the structure informally. It was finally inaugurated on Thursday by Borwankar, who is now headed to Delhi where she will take charge as DG, Bureau of Police Research and Development. BB Daundkar, joint director, FSL, said they would soon be coming out with a curriculum about how the training is to be imparted to judges and policemen. “While we had informally started using the training centre last month, now that it has been inaugurated it will be helpful in co-ordinating with other agencies,” said Daundkar. “I am happy that I could complete this task during my tenure here,” Borwankar told The Indian Express. mohamed.thaver@expressindia.com
