NEW DELHI: A small town in Gadchiroli district, the largest in Maharashtra with a predominantly tribal population and once a key hub of British East India Company, got a court on Saturday after more than 75 years of Independence, even as the Orissa high court, just 800km away, is all set to celebrate its diamond jubilee on Tuesday.

The residents of Aheri town, which is nearly 250km from district headquarters Gadchiroli, had to make a minimum two-day trip up and down to Gadchiroli courts to attend their civil and criminal case trials, which was noticed by Justice B R Gavai when he was a Bombay HC judge in 2015, nearly 10 years after his appointment as HC judge.
Despite his elevation to the Supreme Court as a judge in May 2019, Justice Gavai continued with his endeavour to provide justice at the doorstep for this neglected region comprising four tehsils — Aheri, Bhamragad, Sironcha and Mulcheri — which are situated in the area bordering Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

On Saturday, at an impressive gathering of local population, Justice Gavai, finally inaugurated the court after an eight-year-long struggle with the system. The district and sessions court at Aheri will cater to three lakh residents of the four tehsils, 70% of whom are tribals.
When the remote tehsils of Gadchiroli district is getting their first district and sessions court, 800km away, the Orissa HC in Cuttack will celebrate its diamond jubilee on Tuesday. Interestingly, a bench of Justices D Dash and Sanjeeb K Panigrahi will deliver 75 judgments on Monday coinciding with the 75th year of establishment of the HC, a function where President Draupadi Murmu will be chief guest.