State Courts Building celebrates 40th anniversary
The State Courts. Photo: Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE — Come 2023, the Family Justice Courts will be relocated to the 40-year-old State Courts Building in Havelock Square.
This will follow the move of the State Courts to a new complex to be completed in 2019. The current premises of the Family Justice Courts, which are conserved, will be returned to the state.
Sharing this at the 40th year anniversary of the State Courts Building yesterday (Sept 15), Judicial Commissioner (JC) See Kee Oon, the Presiding Judge of the State Courts, said: “After we move out, this building will be retrofitted for the Family Justice Courts to commence their operations in this building in 2023.” Upgrading works include new features such as escalators.
Last May, during the groundbreaking ceremony for the new State Courts Complex, it was reported that plans for the State Courts Building were still “being discussed”.
Some 300 former and present judges, registrars and court administrators came together at the State Courts Building auditorium to reminisce about its 40-year history.
In a video message, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said: “I am grateful to the judges, the judicial officers and the staff of the State Courts for the immense contribution they have each made in helping us to deliver a system of justice that is fair, accessible and affordable. For the last 40 years, they have done their work in this Building and it has become a landmark in Singapore, and achieved conservation status.”
Before 1975, the then-Subordinate Courts were dispersed and located island-wide - the former Sepoy Lines Police Station in Outram housed the Traffic Courts, while cases for the Civil District Courts were heard at the Old Parliament House and Supreme Court Building on St Andrew’s Road. “The Subordinate Courts Building was conceived not just to locate all the courts together but also to provide for a dignified judicial building that reflected the progress that Singapore was undergoing in the 1970s,” said JC See.
The design of the building, which were renamed the State Courts on March 7 last year, was ahead of its time. There was a sprinkler system installed to protect the wooden wall panels in the courtrooms, cementing the building’s place as one of the first ‘fireproof” government buildings here. Natural lighting floods the atrium, in a bid to be “environmentally-sensitive”.
Former court interpreter Lashman Singh, who was among the invited guests, shared with TODAY his fond memories of his workplace. Mr Singh, 69, worked as an interpreter from 1964 to 2009, and was attached to the Nick Leeson trial in 1995.
“Over 1,000 charges had to be read in open court. It took me about 1.5 hours or so,” he recounted. “We had a mock run set up the day before. This was quite a big and sensitive case.”
Having worked in the Criminal District Court in South Bridge Road prior to moving to the State Courts Building, Mr Singh noted that ties between interpreters were stronger then, as the court was smaller. “When we came here, we were more split up. The interpreters had more rapport with the court staff - various courts they would go to,” he said.
