The Pune district consumer court,now located on Satara Road,is likely to be shifted to near Shivajinagar godown by next year. This will bring the family court,civil and criminal court and consumer court within the vicinity of each other. Seema Bais,registrar of Pune district consumer disputes forum (consumer court),said a letter seeking the shifting of the consumer court to Shivajinagar was sent to the district collector last year. It is housed on a rented premises on Satara Road since 2001. She said the proposal,pending with the Chief Minister,was likely to be cleared soon. The present consumer court houses Pune district and additional Pune district consumer disputes redressal forums with six courtrooms. Lawyers practising at the consumer court felt that the move to shift the court to centrally-located Shivajinagar would benefit the litigants as there are many from Pimpri-Chinchwad who have to travel to Bibewadi for their cases. Meanwhile,it has been a year since a foundation stone was laid for a new building of family court by the then Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Swantanter Kumar. The work had been halted for three months for want of permission from the Pune Municipal Corporation. But it has begun last month, Pune Bar Association president Milind Pawar said. The family court with five courtrooms has been located on the seventh and ninth floors of Bharati Vidyapeeth Bhavan at Alka Chowk since 1986. The space here is limited and the lawyers are hoping for better space management on the new premises. We need a library,separate bar rooms for men and women lawyers,a meeting room for litigants and lawyers. These demands are likely to be met once the new building comes up, said Rekha Koratkar,president of the Pune Family Court Lawyers Association. While one building of the Shivajinagar godown has been demolished,family court lawyers say it will take at least two more years to shift. We are also hoping to get an extra courtroom that will help in easing the load of pending cases, Koratkar said.
