Gurugram tower of justice: High court clears 5 acres for lawyers' chambers
Decision follows long-standing demand, accelerated by court fire that displaced hundreds of advocates
The Building Committee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has approved the allotment of land next to the newly constructed Tower of Justice. The decision fulfils a long-standing demand of the District Bar Association (DBA), which has consistently argued that a modern court complex requires adequate and dignified workspaces for practising lawyers.
The committee's recommendation, finalised during a meeting on July 7, followed a formal plea submitted by the DBA Gurugram on June 27, seeking just over five acres of land immediately adjoining the new complex. According to official minutes sent by the Registrar General's office to the Administration of Justice Department, Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi personally inspected the site and found it ideally suited for the project. Although the land had originally been earmarked for a botanical garden, the committee ruled that the garden could be relocated, while no other suitable land was available near the court complex for advocates' chambers.
Kulbhushan Bhardwaj, former president of the DBA Gurugram, said the allocation addressed a long-pending and pressing need for the city's legal community, which had been forced to work in inadequate conditions for years. He said the recent fire had highlighted the vulnerability of the existing infrastructure, describing the High Court committee's decision as a major step towards strengthening Gurugram's judicial infrastructure.
The demand for a permanent solution gained urgency after a fire on May 24 gutted Court Halls 1, 2 and 3, rendering them unusable and displacing between 700 and 1,000 lawyers overnight.
Following the fire, the DBA, led by president Chandra Kant Sharma and secretary Rahul Dhankhar, approached the Chief Justice with an urgent three-point request. It sought immediate support for the land acquisition proposal already submitted to the Chief Minister, the creation of a dedicated Lawyers' Hall and Bar Rooms close to the Tower of Justice, and temporary arrangements to enable lawyers to continue working until permanent facilities are constructed.
With more than 11,000 registered advocates, Gurugram has the largest District Bar in Haryana. Local legal leaders have long maintained that the city's judicial infrastructure has failed to keep pace with the rapid expansion of its legal fraternity.
Official copies of the committee's decision have now been sent to key stakeholders, including the Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue), the District and Sessions Judge, the Deputy Commissioner, the Chief Architect of Haryana and the PWD Engineer-in-Chief.
The state-of-the-art Tower of Justice is scheduled to be inaugurated on July 12, while the advocates' chambers will be developed as a separate project on the newly approved adjoining plot. Although the land allocation has now been cleared, the state government has yet to announce a construction timeline or budget for the project.
