La Orotava, Los Realejos and Puerto de la Cruz have unanimously joined the request of the senior judges so that the Canary Islands Government merge the judicial districts of La Orotava and Puerto de la Cruz and, in addition, they have been offered as possible venues for a future courthouse that will bring together the courts currently scattered in four buildings in the Villa and the tourist city. While La Orotava and Puerto de la Cruz they offer to look for suitable plots for this purpose if the unification proposal is finally accepted, Los Realejos already offers some specific land located in the industrial estate of La Gañanía.
The judicial district of La Orotava It is made up of five courts of first instance and instruction, divided into two locations, serving a total of six municipalities in the North: The Massacre of Acentejo, La Victoria de Acentejo, Santa Úrsula, La Orotava, Los Realejos and San Juan de la Rambla. The judicial party of Cross port It covers a single municipality, but it is made up of three courts of first instance and instruction, also located in two different venues.
The deans of both judicial parties have raised two merger petitions through writings dated June 2020. These petitions contain reports addressed to the Government Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) that endorse “the need to create new bodies or judicial positions in the respective judicial districts.” For the senior judges of both parties, there are plenty of reasons that support this unification, “both geographically, given that Both venues are barely seven kilometers apart.as well as of interest to legal professionals and operators, and to improve the service provided to citizens.
This unification proposal will allow an increase in the number of judges assigned to the new unified judicial party. According to the Canarian average, there are about 12 judges or magistrates for every 100,000 inhabitants, so that a judicial district of 116,957 inhabitants would result from the unification, should have at least 13 judges or magistrates. This unification could also be accompanied by the possibility of constituting an exclusive court of Gender Violence which would cover most of the north of Tenerife, “very necessary due to the volume of cases of this nature that proliferate in both judicial districts.”
A plot in the La Gañanía industrial estate, in the town of Realejera, is one of the proposals
The Porto agreement, also approved unanimously, specifically asks the Government of the Canary Islands to “acquire land to build a modern City of Justice or Palace of Justice, with a vision of the future, adapted to current times, which houses the necessary number of courts, both civil and criminal, as well as an exclusive court for gender-based violence». He also proposes that possible expansions of future courts be considered, with all the necessary human and material resources, as well as the permanent assignment of the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, the Common Service of Notifications and Seizures, the Office of the Institute of Legal Medicine and rooms for prosecutors, lawyers and translators to facilitate procedures for both citizens and professionals dedicated to imparting justice. A building that should have easy access and large free parking areas.
The unification and construction of a new county courthouse would also put an end to the repeated complaints about the lack of adequate and accessible spaces, as well as parking spaces, in the current headquarters of the Valle de La Orotava courts, which they occupy buildings little adapted to the needs of justice in the 21st century.
The Municipality of Puerto de la Cruz It also proposes that, while the construction of this new public building is planned, “everything necessary for the unification of both judicial districts should be available, maintaining offices in both municipalities of the Orotava Valleymaking the necessary improvements, provisionally, until the final project is executed.
The case of La Orotava
The Judicial District of La Orotava serves six municipalities in the North: La Matanza, La Victoria de Acentejo, Santa Úrsula, La Orotava, Los Realejos and San Juan de la Rambla in five courts spread over two seats located in buildings with a lack of space, parking and accessibility.
