Chandigarh: PGI eyes parking project revival after SC ruling

The project was halted last year after an audit team found that the institute had not taken the mandatory clearance before starting construction

The ₹61-crore multi-level parking project at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), built on a 26,000-square-metre area, is likely to be back on track after remaining stalled for 15 months, with the Supreme Court (SC) now clarifying the legal position on post-facto (retrospective) environmental clearance

The institute is taking legal advice on the matter on how to proceed as per the SC judgement. (HT File)

The project was halted last year after an audit team found that the institute had not taken the mandatory clearance before starting construction. By then, PGIMER had already completed 70% of the construction work.

The 2006 Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, issued by the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC), makes prior environmental clearance mandatory for new projects and expansion listed in its schedule.

After the audit objection, PGIMER was unable to apply for the clearance after the construction as the matter was pending before the Supreme Court in the Vanashakti v Union of India case. The apex court delivered the judgment in this case on July 29, 2026. With this, the PGIMER is now in the process of hiring an environment consultant who will make a viable environment management plan for the parking project and advise the institute on how to move further on applying for the clearance. The institute is taking legal advice on the matter on how to proceed as per the SC judgement.

Parking crunch has emerged as one of the main hurdles for patients visiting the tertiary-care hospital for treatment. Due to limited parking slots on campus, patients are forced to park their vehicles outside, with cars lining both sides of the roads outside PGIMER gates 1 and 2 and in the Sector 11 market.

The institute, spread over 277 acres, sees 25,000-30,000 vehicles entering its campus every day, while its total parking capacity is capped at around 5,500 vehicles. Public parking is restricted to just 1,400 spaces, while the remaining capacity is allocated across 26 staff parking lots.

The annual OPD footfall at PGIMER rose from 22 lakh in 2014-15 to 27 lakh in 2024-25, while the public parking capacity has remained stagnant. The public currently has to rely on five paid parking zones – two-wheeler parking area near the New OPD (200 vehicles), the old multi-level parking facility (600), the Advanced Cardiac Centre (200), the Research Block (300) and the Advanced Paediatric Centre (40). The four-wheeler parking capacity is 3,785, with the rest for two-wheelers.

Project with 900-vehicle capacity approved in 2015

The multi-level parking project, with a capacity of approximately 900 vehicles, was the major solution proposed by the PGIMER administration to address the problem. The project was approved over a decade ago, in 2015, by the standing finance committee. The PGIMER management, however, took eight years to award the contract, which was issued in May 2023 with an 18-month completion deadline. After the contract was awarded, the project faced further bottlenecks, including delays by the UT in shifting an electrical substation from the site.

Hurdles remain even after SC verdict

While the SC judgment is out, PGIMER will have to plan its next move carefully as the three-judge bench reaffirmed the requirement under the 2006 EIA notification to obtain EC before starting a project. It also quashed the 2021 executive office memorandum that had laid down a standard operating procedure for obtaining the clearance after construction had begun.

The bench, comprising chief justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi, also held that the 2017 notification had provided a one-time window for projects that had started without prior EC. While clearances already granted under the framework will stand and pending applications are to be decided, fresh applications for post-construction clearances under the quashed 2021 office memorandum are not permissible. It is therefore unlikely that PGIMER will seek clearance under the 2021 memorandum. However, under Article 142, the SC can still use its inherent powers in appropriate cases. It is unclear how PGIMER is going to move ahead with the given judgement.

“As the judgement of the SC has been pronounced, the case for obtaining clearance for multi-level parking will be processed as per environment ministry’s policies and judgement of the Hon’ble SC,” said an official spokesperson of PGIMER.