Ahmedabad court handling crime branch cases has no judge

There is no judge in the magistrate court of the crime branch for six months. The court is regarded as a sensitive court in the lower judiciary in the city as all cases detected and registered by the city crime branch are first brought to this court. Sources, however, said that they hope for the appointment of the judge in near future.

The vacancy came up after the then judge NV Tadvi was appointed additional chief metropolitan magistrate in Ahmedabad metropolitan court.

The court is considered to be highly sensitive as it has got a list of most high-profile cases. Court sources said that many cases have been put on hold and several cases hit because of the non-appointment of the magistrate.

Senior lawyer in the magistrate court, Gulab Khan Pathan, said that the court deals with very sensitive cases but non-appointment of the magistrate had caused delay in justice delivery to many. 

Anil Kella, another senior advocate practising in the magistrate and sessions courts, said that apart from the court of the crime branch, there are two other courts where there are no judges.

"Because of this, the number of pending cases has increased and the undertrials lodged in the jail are suffering,'' he said.

Some hope that the announcement of appointment for the vacant posts will be made soon, but at the same time sources indicate that the appointments will take place not before December.