Funds allocated for new court complex, says department of judicial administration

The government has allocated funds and a 12,000 square feet plot of land in Malé for the construction of a new court complex, the department of judicial administration (DJA) has said.

The DJA said in a press statement last night that the court complex will be built on plot number 345 between the State Trading Organisation (STO) head office and the Maafanu Madharsa pre-school in the western end of the capital.

“As the state’s policy is to facilitate the needs of the judiciary, the government has worked to solve the lack of capacity presently faced by the courts and has made generous arrangements,” the department said.

The government has provided the former STO head office building on Haveeree Hingun for the civil court’s out-of-court dispute resolution section, the DJA said, in addition to land in Malé for the juvenile court and drug court.

The new court complex is expected to house the criminal court and civil court.

Criminal court chief judge Abdulla Mohamed has previously said that lack of space has hampered the trial court’s functioning. The office area on the second floor of the justice building does not have sufficient space for half its employees, the judge had said.

The DJA meanwhile said that construction work on 26 new buildings for island magistrate courts is also expected to be complete before the end of the year.

“Building a court complex to strengthen both the administrative functioning of the justice system and public services is a vision of the judiciary,” the DJA said.

The department said it intends to construct the building with as many floors as allowed by regulations, but did not reveal the estimated cost for the court complex.

The government had previously awarded plot number 387 to the judiciary, which was used as an STO warehouse, but reversed the decision following changes brought to the Malé land use plan.