The wing of the heritage building in Chanchol that will house the judicial magistrate’s court. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, April 1: Eight years after it was declared a subdivision, Chanchol is set to have its own judicial magistrate’s court, which will be housed in a stately mansion that once belonged to the local zamindars.

A wing of the more-than-100-year-old heritage building was recently acquired by the district administration for Rs 1.13 crore. Today, it was officially handed over to the Bengal judicial department at a programme attended by judicial secretary Ashim Roy.

The other wing of the building houses Chanchol College. “The zamindars donated it in 1969,” said Sabesh Moitra, the secretary of the local bar association.

The 25,000sqft, two-storeyed building was designed by engineers from Birmingham, UK, and took nine years to be completed. It stands on a 2.3-acre land.

Additional district magistrate Purna Chandra Shit said the wing acquired for the judicial department had 16 large rooms and each could be converted into two courtrooms.

“The rooms are around 32.5ft wide, 60ft long and 27ft high,” said Sambhu Mukherjee, a descendant of the zamindars who is set to vacate the palace and move to Harishchandrapur with his family.

“According to the public works department, the building’s foundation is strong despite its age. It will be preserved as a heritage structure,” the additional district magistrate said.

Roy, too, sounded impressed after touring the building. “It will be an ideal place to house the subdivisional court,” the judicial secretary said.

Subdivisional officer Debashis Sarkar said the building’s roof, walls and windows were intact. “We hope that the court will start functioning from June,” he said.

“The new court will benefit thousands of people from the subdivision who have to travel 100km to Malda to attend hearings. Half the cases in the subdivisional judicial magistrate’s court in Malda are from Chanchol,” said Sital Prasad Chakrabarty, the president of the bar association.

Mukherjee’s great grandfather Saratchandra Roy Chowdhury was the last zamindar of Chanchol before the system was abolished soon after Independence. Gouri Devi, Mukherjee’s 75-year-old mother, is still called “Ranima” by the people of Chanchol. “I wanted to preserve the building’s heritage and that is why we decided to hand it over to the government and not private promoters,” she said.

“There used to be regular merry-making at the palace. Dancers used to come from Benares (Varanasi) and Calcutta. There were a dozen Arabian horses and as many elephants in the stables even 50 years ago,” Gouri Devi said. She lives with one of her three daughters in Malda town.