Chandigarh submits revised High Court expansion plan to UNESCO

The UT Administration has submitted a fresh roadmap for the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s expansion before the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The proposal was presented at a meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, on September 6, where Chief Secretary Rajiv Verma, Chief Architect Rajiv Kumar Mehta and Senior Architect Sangeeta Bagga were present.

According to officials, the revised holistic development plan limits the construction area to 2 lakh sqft, significantly reduced from the earlier proposal. The plan envisages 16 new courtrooms, lawyers’ chambers, cafeterias, administrative blocks and parking facilities, all to be developed within the existing premises, but away from the heritage buildings. Given the space constraints, the administration has proposed multi-storey structures to accommodate the daily influx of nearly 10,000 lawyers, 3,300 employees, thousands of litigants, and around 10,000 vehicles.

Officials said the UNESCO team responded positively to the presentation. The minutes of the meeting are expected to be released in around 20 days, after which further action will be initiated.

The revised plan comes after objections raised by UNESCO and its advisory body, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which had flagged concerns that the earlier proposal might endanger the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the Capitol Complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Following these objections, earlier schemes such as underground parking and an AC chiller plant were stalled.

Prior to resubmitting the plan, the UT Administration carried out a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) to gauge the potential effects of the expansion. The 2023 ICOMOS review highlighted the need to preserve the green belt and open spaces at the rear of the High Court, even while acknowledging the imperative of expansion to meet the current and future demands.

Last month, while hearing a PIL, the High Court had asked the administration to clarify whether the revised proposal had the approval of both the administration and the heritage committee, especially since the number of proposed courtrooms had been reduced.

The administration had earlier offered 48 acres in Sarangpur village for setting up a new High Court complex, citing its higher floor area ratio and better connectivity through a 200-foot-wide road and a proposed elevated corridor, and refused to give land in the IT Park area.

On IT Park land, the UT informed the Court that the IT Park land cannot be considered, as it was originally allotted for information technology and allied services, making land use change unfeasible.