By Skandha Gunasekara The struggle to restore the court complex in Hultsdorf saw further developments with the Minister of Justice charging that she was being unfairly blamed while the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) reached out to the international community as an alternative. On 16 September, the roof of the Colombo High Court building collapsed after decades of neglect and lack of maintenance. Lawyers, litigants, and court employees continued working in this building, despite the danger posed to their lives. The building needs serious repairs due to its crumbling infrastructure. The flooring has not been replaced for years while the remainder of roof has holes in it, allowing water to leak through the cracks and fall into the courtrooms. In addition, complaints have been made of the dilapidated state of the District Court building as well as the conditions of the Superior Court building. BASL involvement BASL President Kalinga Indatissa has made it one of his goals as the Head of the Bar to renovate the court complex. “Unfortunately, this home of the Supreme Court is in an extremely dilapidated condition. This is a historic building in a beautiful setting. A few months ago, the future of this dilapidated building became evident both to the members of the Bar and the bench when the ceiling of the District Court collapsed. What is ironic is that no ministry or institution appears to be accountable for this condition. “The Bar is concerned about the condition of this building and the lack of accountability on the part of those responsible. If the authorities concerned continue to ignore their duty in restoring and protecting this monumental building, it will soon end up as an archaeological site. The BASL will initiate steps for the restoration and preservation of this building with the support of its members.” Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Indatissa said that he wrote to the relevant authorities in addition to the President and Prime Minister regarding this urgent need but had received no response. “We wrote to the President, Prime Minister, Minister of Justice, Minister of Finance, and the Chief Justice but are yet to receive any reply. If repairs are not carried out soon, I fear the building will collapse in the next few weeks,” Indatissa said. He went on to say that the BASL circulated a petition which had received more than 1,000 signatures. Accordingly, the petition calls for/to: a) Collectively make an effort to vest these buildings in a more responsible institution b) Involve the Ministry of Justice to take immediate measures to restore this building with the involvement of His Lordship the Chief Justice, Attorney General (AG), and BASL c) Create a trust with all stakeholders for the development of the courthouses Apart from the Hulftsdorp Court Complex, most of the court complexes throughout the island lack basic facilities. Public seating areas, public toilets, facilities for the local practitioners, child-friendly premises, childcare facilities, and disabled access are some facilities that ought to be introduced immediately. Indatissa went on to say that it would be ideal if the Government could set up a separate authority to oversee the renovation and maintenance of the court complex. “We propose that a separate authority be established to oversee this work. The authority could be headed by the Chief Justice with representatives from the AG’s Department, BASL, and the Justice Ministry,” he said, pointing out that not only in Colombo, but the infrastructure of the court system in the entire country needed renovation. He noted the historical value of the buildings and said that the BASL had reached out for international assistance as well. “We wrote to the Netherlands Ambassador over this issue as this building was built by the Dutch. At least they might see the value of renovating and restoring this historical building,” he said. Past efforts Eminent lawyer Dr. Kanaganayagam Kanag-Isvaran PC urged authorities to take immediate remedial action. “It’s in a very dangerous state and needs immediate repair. I think it was last repaired during President (Ranasinghe) Premadasa’s time,” he told The Sunday Morning. He said that he couldn’t understand why authorities were not addressing the issue and that if an individual was injured in this regard, it could result in litigation against the Government. “I have no idea why nobody is interested in fixing this. Lawyers, judges, and the general public frequent it on a daily basis and if someone is injured due to the dilapidated state of the buildings, then the Government could be sued for negligence,” Dr. Kanag-Isvaran said. Meanwhile, former Justice Minister MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said that he initiated a plan to construct a new court complex and make Hulfsdorp a museum. Rajapaksa said that he had been able to acquire six acres of the British Ceylon Corporation’s (BCC) land to house the court complex. “We prepared a plan for it to have 40 courthouses, complete courthouses with separate chambers for judges, a separate record room, a registry, a common utility area, and a library,” he said. However, he said that after an investor who was willing to go ahead with the construction on a rent basis was rejected, the Finance Ministry had agreed to allocate Rs. 1 billion for the project. “The plan was to begin contraction by the latter part of 2017 and conclude by 2020,” he said. Additionally, Rajapaksa said that China had agreed to provide a grant worth Rs. 2 billion to renovate the Superior Court complex. The agreement in this regard was signed with China in 2015. “The plan was to build the court complex at the BCC and shift the Superior Court there temporarily till the Chinese-funded renovations were done. After which, the Superior Court would be shifted back to the renovated original buildings,” he said. However, he said that the Chairman and Acting CEO of the Public-Private Partnership Unit of the Finance Ministry Thilan Wijesinghe had intervened and the project had come to a standstill. “One day, Wijesinghe told me that he was the project co-ordinator for the Finance Ministry and the Prime Minister and required all the files I had on the court complex renovation project, claiming that he had to study the project. So I obliged and gave him the files and that was the end of the story. I never saw the files again and the renovations have not been done up to date.” Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Thalatha Atukorale, in a media statement, said that an initiative had been taken to renovate the court complex. The Minister said that as a solution to the infrastructure problem of the courts complex in Fort, the Government would be setting up a separate complex in the adjoining BCC land. She said the new court complex will house 40 courthouses. In addition, the Minister said that once the new court complex was constructed, the current Old Dutch Court Complex would be made into a museum. Furthermore, she charged that it was unfair of groups to single her out as the only responsible authority as there had been previous justice ministers who had failed to remedy the situation as well.