The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday asked the Chandigarh administration to apprise court how two key components related to the high court expansion plan project submitted to UNESCO body can be expedited.
“The necessity of obtaining the site management and buffer zone management plan had already been intimated to the UT administration in November 2024. Almost a year and a half has gone by since then. Unless the report itself is made available forthwith, it may cause irreparable crisis for the project itself,” the bench of acting chief justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra said asking UT’s counsel to obtain instructions and inform as to how quickly such report can be submitted by the consultant IIT Roorkee.
Earlier, UT ‘s lawyer told the court that it has written to Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, seeking a preparations of these two plans and sanctioned ₹4 crore as consultancy charges.
It observed that these two reports are required for the UNESCO clearance and strict timelines are required to be followed, failing which the court’s project itself would not be taken up for consideration for a period of next two years.
“This is likely to create serious complications for the court, which is already facing difficulties on account of space constraints for both the court and the lawyers. Ultimately, it is the litigants, who are the end consumers of justice, who have to bear the loss,” the bench observed seeking instructions by Wednesday.
{{/usCountry}}“This is likely to create serious complications for the court, which is already facing difficulties on account of space constraints for both the court and the lawyers. Ultimately, it is the litigants, who are the end consumers of justice, who have to bear the loss,” the bench observed seeking instructions by Wednesday.
{{/usCountry}}The court was hearing a 2023 public interest litigation (PIL) by HC employees association secretary Vinod Dhatterwal, seeking the implementation of a holistic development plan, which envisages the setting up of multi-storey buildings to cater to the requirement of additional space.
What is holistic development plan ?
The plan is with regard to construction of a new block at HC complex on 20.5 lakh square feet area. As per the plan, the total built-up area under the expansion plan will be 10,46,335 square feet, and 40 courtrooms, 48 judges’ chambers and office space will come up on 7,03,357 square feet.
The proposal also envisages three blocks, each with a maximum height of three floors, along with three underground parking facilities. It also includes dedicated office space for court staff, advocate general’s offices, banks, stationery outlets, restaurants and other allied amenities. It needs clearance from the UNESCO body as HC complex falls in the Capitol Complex, declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 2016. In January a modified plan has been sent to the UNESCO arm for clearance by the UT.
Over 10,000 cars and thousands of two-wheelers come to the HC daily as there are 10,000 lawyers and over 3,300 court employees, besides the litigants. The court has a sanctioned strength of 85 judges – but at present, it has only 60 judges and only 69 courtrooms.
If all the sanctioned posts are filled, the administration would struggle to get court rooms for all. In future the strength is to go up. Moreover, the complex is seeing massive traffic jams on daily basis during peak hours.