Judicial Academy to have a new campus at Athani

KOCHI: The Kerala Judicial Academy, which is a part of the Kerala High Court, will move to a new campus on the outskirts of the city soon.“The foundation stone for the new building will be laid next month on the site earmarked for it at Athani in Aluva,” Academy director K Abraham Mathew said.The new site is near the airport at Nedumbassery, the Angamaly railway station and KSRTC bus station but visits to the High Court will be a bit tedious.Five acres of land have been allotted by the state government for the new campus recently. Though Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said, during the inauguration of NUALS campus in July, that land would be allotted at Thrikkakara for the campus, land was not available there, Abraham Mathew added.When Justice Chelameshwar was the Chief Justice, he put forth a proposal for a new campus to the Chief Minister who allotted the land in September 2011. The centre has earmarked Rs 15 crore for construction of the building and Rs 6.74 for infrastructure and training.“The campus will be selfsufficient,” he said. The Academy, which functions on the old High Court premises, do not have proper infrastructure. A huge chunk of the funds are spent on accommodating trainees and staff in hotels. “We can utilise the amount more productively,” he said.The new complex will be residential and autonomous. “Judicial education can be imparted in better way, activities monitored and trainees can be influenced on a personal-level so that a value- based culture can be developed,” he said.Four levels of directors form the faculty. Training would also be imparted by experts in different fields. A one-year training is given for induction of judicial officers and another year’s training is imparted after induction.In-service training for judicial officers is also given which is of short duration. Of the 20 seats, only 18 have been filled this year, said the director.After Justice Pius C Kuriakose became the president of the Academy in 2010, he initiated a training programme for junior advocates in collaboration with the Bar Council of Kerala, the motto of which is ‘preserving majesty and retaining nobility of the profession’.Training for prosecutors is another new programme, he said. When asked about the deteriorating values in the justice-delivery fraternity, he said they were laying stress on ethics and etiquette and trying to bring about a change.Justice V S Malimath, the then Chief Justice, was instrumental in getting the Academy set up in 1986.Ever since, it is much soughtafter by the judicial officers of other states. “During the past three months, many judicial officers from Karnataka, Jharkhand and Patna, visited us to see how the Academy was functioning,” he said.