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| Coimbatore, TN. Kuthiraivandi court .etvbharat.com |
The Kuthiraivandi court is one of a handful of historic buildings in Coimbatore that were given a facelift in the past years. Earlier GD House in Podanur (owned by G.D. Naidu) that hosted Mahatma Gandhi on his visit to the city in Feb.1934, was revamped into the Gandhi Memorial Museum. Other buildings like the Victoria Town Hall, built in 1892, and the Hamilton Club, opposite the Railway Station, also underwent extensive renovation and they are put to reuse.
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| Coimbatore, TN. Kuthiraivandi court etvbharat.com |
Near Avinashi road flyover, Coimbatore city lies a protected colonial building locally called kuthiraivandi court on a sprawling plot of 2.6 acres. This old structure with high ceiling supported by huge columns was built 1863 to house judiciary magistrate court. This particular court in those colonial days was popular because no violators of the road rules by the drivers (in local parlance Kuthiraivandi- kararkal) of horse-drawn carts would leave the portals of the court without coughing up fines imposed on them by the court. if the court had a coffer in front of it it would 've filled up to the brim as quickly as possible. Mind you at that point of time there was no motorized traffic and it was way ahead. Known for fining a huge number of horse-drawn cart drivers, the court got the notoriety among the kuthiraivandi kararkal and the weird name - Kuthiraivandi court was tagged to it.
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| Coimbatore, TN. Kuthiraivandi court etvbharat.com |
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| Coimbatore, TN. Kuthiraivandi court 1963 etvbharat.com |
Because of the push given by the heritage lovers and historians, the the TN government way back in March 2019 under the PWD identified a list of several heritage structures in urgent need of repairs across the state and embarked on a project to restore and reuse them. The Coimbatore court building, steeped in history, had been in a prolonged dilapidated state. A sum of Rs. 9 crore was granted for its restoration work to house a museum complex there. Now INTACH, Coimbatore chapter is meticulously restoring the building back to old glory. In the past years the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage successfully renovated a large number of heritage buildings across the land and breathed new life and splendor to them which otherwise would 've turned into tuned to dust had right step not been taken. They were the ones who used the concept of restoration of the old structure for reuse. According to Ramachandra Prasad, convener, INTACH Coimbatore they prevented the government to demolish the structure and started the restoration carefully with whatever was left and maintaining the old heritage values.
That this old court's historical and colonial legacy frozen in time is being brought back to old glory is a piece of good news for two reasons. This was the first colonial magistrate court in this part of Madras Presidency (now in Tamil Nadu) and 02. It has a historical link with V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, a staunch freedom fighter, a lawyer of repute and the first Indian to have launched a Swadeshi Shipping company fully owned by the Indians. To sustain their monopoly the British gave him all kinds of problems forfeited cases on him and finally jailed him in the Coimbatore Central Prison. he was shabbily treated and taken to the court here. A statue of VO Chidambaram worthy of him was unveiled in November 2015 on the premises of Central Prison, Coimbatore about 86 years after his death.
perhaps, it is believed that it might take several months for the conservation engineers to restore the old colonial magistrate court.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2022/oct/27/kovais-conservationquandary-2511987.html
https://www.navrangindia.in/2022/01/kuthiraivandi-court-old-colonial-court.html
