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Silent witness of a rich past
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The brick-red mansion that houses the District Court at North Parur stands as a piece of grand architecture. M. PRASHANTH on its golden past and ordinary present
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THE ADDITIONAL District Court at North Parur, an imposing 128-year-old structure, within a sprawling, shady compound, stands testimony to the majestic bygone days. Located in the heart of the town, this brick-red mansion is a perfect model of period architecture, surviving the ravages of time and modernity.
Established in 1875, under the instruction of Maharaja Rama Varma Ayilyam Tirunal, erstwhile ruler of Travancore State, this building stands in a five-acre plot of land. "The Parur court has reverberated to the vociferous eloquence and heaved a sigh of relief to the succinctness moderate in temperament of its lawyers for the past several years," says Advocate K. O. Benedict, Secretary of the Paravur District Court Bar Association.
Unique methods were adopted for the construction of the building. Lime mortar and sand were mixed and matured and then kept for ripening for ten days. On the tenth day, a combination of gallnut (kadukka), the shoe flower (hibiscus) and uzhinjavalli were added to the ripened combination of lime mortar and sand. The combination was then used for the construction of the building. The ceilings of the two- storied structure are made of iron guarders and teak wood. The staircases are made from wood of the highest quality. As road transport was not easy those days, the Maharaja commissioned the canal to the Parur Township to facilitate easier transportation of raw materials for the construction of the court complex.
The court complex also houses the Taluk Office, which was built in the same year, using almost identical construction methods. The complex also comprises of a Registrar Office, a Police Station, Sales Tax Office and a Treasury. The entire area, therefore, came to be known as `Paravur Kachery' and the canal leading up to it as the `Kachery Thodu.'
The District Court of Parur enjoyed wide jurisdiction, extending from Kottayam in the south to Parur in the North, from the Sahyadri in the east and Arabian Sea in the west. The court at Parur was a part of the Kottayam district then and as per the old dispensation, the Munsiff Courts at Perumbavoor, Muvattupuzha, Thodupuzha and Devikulam came under the domain of the Parur District Court.
Little information is available on the lawyers who practised in the District Court in its formative years. But records suggest that Veeraraghava Iyer was the judge of the court between 1888 and1890. It is believed that in those years the court comprised of seven lawyers, with four Brahmins, a Nair, a Pillai and a Christian forming the group. When the State of Kerala was formed in 1956, according to the reorganisation of the Part B States of the Indian Union, the government put forward a policy, whereby it stated that the Revenue District Headquarters and Judicial District Headquarters had to be at the same location. This led to the abolition of the Parur District Court, with a new District Court coming up at Ernakulam. This saw a large extent of jurisdictional area being transferred to the new court. The lawyers at Parur protested against this move and even went on a satyagraha. As a measure of mollification, an Additional District Court was established, which is functional now.
The court complex now houses the Additional District and Sessions Court, two subordinate courts, one Munsiff Court apart from a Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in a separate building in the southern side of the complex. The jurisdictional power of the court is now comprised in the areas of Parur Taluk, certain parts of Aluva Taluk and some parts of Kunnathunadu and Kochi Taluks.
"The monumental building has been a witness to many an epic legal battle and it will continue to be so for years to come," says K. Narayanan, whose family is in the third generation of being in the profession in this historic court. He along with his father and son has had the privilege to practice as advocates in this magnificent edifice.
Though the euphoria and jurisdictional powers enjoyed by the Parur court has gone, the brick-red mansion stands as a witness to the rich heritage that it enjoyed in the golden past.
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