उत्तराखंड न्यायिक एवं विधिक अकादमी Uttarakhand Judicial and Legal Academy

UTTARAKHAND JUDICIAL AND LEGAL ACADEMY

Print

On November 9, 2000 the new state of Uttarakhand was carved out from Uttar Pradesh. In year 2004, Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.S. Sirpurkar, the then Chief Justice of Uttaranchal High Court took keen interest in establishing an Academy for training to the judges of the State. The Judicial Academy for the State was conceptualized and was christened as Uttarakhand Judicial and Legal Academy (UJALA). The foundation stone of UJALA was laid on December 19, 2004 by Hon’ble Mr. Justice R.C. Lahoti, the then Chief Justice of India in the presence of Hon’ble Sri N.D. Tiwari, the then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.S. Sirpurkar.  Subsequently the Administrative-cum-Training block, a Mess and a hostel was constructed in the first phase of infrastructure construction.

Cradled in a valley of rolling pine filled hills of Bhowali, the Academy became functional on June 14, 2008 when it was inaugurated by Hon’ble Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, the Chief Justice of India in the presence of Hon’ble Sri B.L. Joshi, the then Governor of Uttarakhand and Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.K. Gupta, the then Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court.

Basically the Uttarakhand Judicial and Legal Academy is meant for the training of judges of the subordinate courts of the State of Uttarakhand and the Academy organizes Induction/Orientation Training Programmes and Reflective Training Programmes for newly appointed judges, Refresher Programmes, Workshop, Seminars, and Specialized Training Programmes for other judges of Subordinate Courts of the State. However, the ultimate goal of the Academy is “to strengthen the administration of justice as a whole”. To ensure the achievement of the goal, efforts are made that every stake holder in justice delivery system may benefit from the resources of UJALA. In this process the public prosecutors of the State, officers of various Departments of State Government, who by virtue of their official position have to take judicial or quasi judicial decision, police officers etc are imparted training in UJALA to suit their needs. This process, on one hand ensures the resources of UJALA being utilised to the optimum level for strengthening the administration of justice and on the other hand it is expected to help the officers of other services to acquire proficiency in the process of applying law in more functional manner. Consequently, training programmes/workshops on legal matters for the officers of Secretariat, Police Department, Medical & Health Department, Urban Development Department and PWD/RES/Irrigation/Minor Irrigation Department have also been organised to cater to training needs of various Government departments.