The Nyaya Mandir ­– Temple of Justice – houses the District Court of Vadodara. The central hall, decorated with mosaic tiles, has a statue of Chimnabai, wife of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. Maharaja Sayajirao had asked architect Robert Chisholm to build a vegetable market in the center of the city, but when Chisholm was done in 1896, he changed his mind and turned it into a Town Hall and later a court. The building was inaugurated on 30th November, 1896, by Viceroy Lord Elgin. It is spread over 4 acres and was once called Chimnabai Nyaya Mandir. Baroda's last ruler Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad gave his final speech before acceding to the Indian union from the balcony of the building. The Nyaya Mandir is one of several buildings in the city designed in an Indo-Saracenic style by Chisholm and mixes Gothic, Renaissance and Mughal elements.
When Sayajirao’s first wife, Maharani Chimnabai I died in 1884, the grief-stricken monarch laid the foundation of the building which was to be the Maharani Chimnabai Market. But when the construction was completed it was found to be too large (and too grand) for the market and it was transfigured into a courthouse or the Shri Chimnabai Nyaya Mandir. It is also known as the Diwani Courts where the civil court cases are tried. The Central Hall has a stunning marble statue of Maharani Chimnabai sculpted by A. Felici. Adjacent to this yellow brick building is a red brick building which is known as the Fozdaari Court and, more popularly, as Lal Court, where criminal cases are tried. …… (Excerpt from the book ‘Once Upon A Time … There Was Baroda’, by Rani Dharker and Rahul Gajjar)