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SCBA seeks audience with CJI over land for lawyers’ chambers
The SCBA filed a petition in the Supreme Court in August last year as its demand for chambers was not addressed earlier
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has written a letter requesting an audience with Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud over the demand for allocating the entire 1.33-acre land granted for the top court’s archives for constructing lawyers’ chambers.
SCBA president Vikas Singh wrote the letter on Saturday two days after the top court dismissed a petition over the demand but left the matter open to be taken up on the administrative side.
Singh has also sought a discussion on issues including allotment of the building housing the Foreign Correspondents’ Club near the Supreme Court to the SCBA for the construction of additional chambers, space for offices for of the association’s office bearers, etc.
The court on Thursday said that it cannot assert a right to the entirety of 1.33-acre land allocated for Supreme Court Archives. It allotted 0.5-acre land for constructing lawyers’ chambers.
The SCBA has sought the entire 1.33-acre land as it is the only vacant plot situated near the Supreme Court. It argued that in the 0.5-acre space, only 250 chambers could be constructed while the requirement was for about 1000.
SCBA said if the entire land is available, nearly 700 chambers can be provided, still leaving out eligible lawyers awaiting chambers for 20 years.
Also read: Judiciary ordering land for lawyers’ chambers sends a very wrong message, says SC
The SCBA wrote to the Union government on March 18 demanding the space allotted to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club for additional chambers. The matter is pending and SCBA requested the CJI to take up this issue on the administrative side.
The SCBA said it filed a petition in the Supreme Court in August last year over the matter as their demand for chambers was not addressed earlier.
A bench of the CJI and justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and PS Narasimha dismissed the plea this month. “These are matters which cannot be resolved by the application of judicial standards and have to be taken up on the administrative side of the Supreme Court. Administrative functioning and decision-making, which the current issue requires, cannot be moved to the judicial side.”
In another letter to CJI on March 17, the SCBA said while the infrastructure for judges and registry officials has increased manifold, no corresponding increase in infrastructure took place for providing facilities for SCBA members.
