Get holistic plan's heritage assessment done, says High Court
Chandigarh, November 9
Just about nine months after the Union Government and the Union Territory of Chandigarh were put on notice on a plea seeking directions to expedite HC’s “holistic development plan” for reducing the load on the existing building, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a directive to get the heritage assessment done “in respect of the holistic plan approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs”.
The holistic plan as approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs included the construction of 20 courtrooms, a chamber and a multi-level parking. As the matter came up for resumed hearing before the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Nidhi Gupta, Additional Solicitor-General of India Satya Pal Jain supplied a list of 72 notified heritage bodies in the court.
Upgrading infra
- The holistic plan as approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs includes the construction of 20 courtrooms, a chamber and a multi-level parking
- As per a PIL, HC’s premises are not enough for rising number of advocates, employees and litigants
“With the consensus of all counsels for the parties, direction is being given to the Centre to call the Department of Architecture and Planning, IIT Roorkee, and get the heritage assessment done in respect of the holistic plan as approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs as observed in the order dated April 17, 2018”.
The matter was placed before the Bench after a petition was filed in public interest by Vinod Dhatterwal, secretary of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Employees Association, and other petitioners. The Bench was told that approximately 10,000 lawyers, around 3,300 court employees, nearly 3,000 advocates’ clerks, employees of advocate-general offices of the two states, security personnel, unaccountable number of litigants and other employees of different departments visited the court daily. No less than 10,000 cars and thousands of two-wheelers also reached the court. The existing building/premises were unable to bear the load. It has also been contended that there was hardly any space to accommodate more than 5 lakh judicial files pending in the HC.
The petitioners added there was a mammoth increase in the membership of advocates, employees and the footfall of litigants, besides officials, compared to the times when this court started as a common institution for two states and a UT.
“From the security and emergency perspective, even a small incident can lead to a rampage resulting in unimaginable loss. The present situation in the parking lot is such that neither an ambulance nor a fire brigade can reach a desired place,” the plea said.
