GUILHERME ALMEIDA
MARGAO
Strange it may seem, but true. Margao in particular and South Goa in general has no Special Judicial Magistrates to adjudicate cases under the Motor Vehicles Act or the Railway Act or to carry out the task of recording statements, including dying declarations and confessional statements or conduct an identification parades during criminal investigations.
If the post of Special Judicial Magistrate, Margao has been lying vacant since the time then Special Judicial magistrate Sarojini Sardinha was appointed by the government as Director of Prosecution around six months ago, the post of Special Judicial Magistrate, Vasco has been defunct ever since the order appointing GSPCB Member Secretary Levinson Martins expired in December 2017. There’s also not a single Special Judicial Magistrate in the talukas of Quepem and Canacona.
In the absence of the Special Judicial Magistrates, cases under the Motor Vehicles Act, which were forwarded to the SJMs in all the five talukas of South Goa for adjudication, are now being forwarded to the Judicial Magistrates First Class. As far as Margao is concerned, left with no option, the traffic Cell has been referring all cases under the Motor Vehicles Act to the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Margao.
Officials in the know said the purpose behind appointing Special Judicial Magistrates under section 13 of the Criminal Procedure Code was to ensure quick disposal of cases, especially cases under the Motor Vehicles Act, Railway Act and other Acts as notified by the government since the regular courts of Judicial Magistrates are overburdened with regular cases.
When The Goan called up Superintendent of Police, Traffic Dinraj Govekar to shed light on the absence of Special Judicial Magistrates to adjudicate cases under the Motor Vehicles Act, he said that the traffic department has moved a proposal to the Home department to constitute special Judicial Magistrates in South Goa. “Since the traffic department had mooted the proposal to the Home department, we have been regularly doing the follow up to get the Special Judicial Magistrates constituted as far as the Motor Vehicles cases are concerned”, SP Govekar informed.
The Goan now understands that the South Goa Principal Judge B P Deshpande has issued a notification inviting applications for the four posts of the Special Judicial Magistrates from persons in government service or retired government servants, for performing the duties as the Special Judicial Magistrates. The notification stated that the Special Judicial Magistrates so appointed, will have to do the work of recording the statements during investigation (including confessional statements, dying declarations and the statement during the identification parades) on a call given by the concerned investigating agency.
While the South Goa Principal Sessions Judge Deshpande has now set in motion the process to fill up the four vacant posts of Special Judicial Magistrates in South Goa, it may take a month or two before the Special Judicial Magistrates are finally notified by the High Court. For, the date of the interview and the acceptance and rejection of the applications invited by the Principal Sessions Judge will be displayed on the notice board only on March 29, indicating that South Goa may have the special Judicial Magistrate either in April or May next.
