High Court concerned over delay in court complex construction

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has expressed strong displeasure over the prolonged delay in the construction of the Judicial Court Complex, Mandi (Phase-II), at DPF Kangni, near Sabzi Mandi, Sadar tehsil, Mandi district. The matter has been pending since 2018.

During the course of hearing, the state counsel placed on record a communication dated October 25, 2025 from the Executive Engineer, Mandi Division-II, informing that the site has been cleared of bushes and small trees across 9.6 hectares of land. A contour site plan was prepared and sent to the Senior Architect, HP PWD, Mandi on June 20, 2025 for preparing architectural drawings.

The court was informed that the drawings were issued on September 27, 2025, but certain shortcomings were pointed out and conveyed back to the Senior Architect on October 9. The matter is presently pending with the Architect. Preliminary estimate for administrative and expenditure sanction will be prepared after receiving the modified drawings.

After perusing the same, the division bench comprising Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Jiya Lal Bhardwaj noted with concern that the matter has been pending for over seven years, observing that the delay in construction of an essential judicial infrastructure project was “wholly unjustified.”

The court further directed the officials to ensure that the needful be done by the next date of hearing and listed the matter for further consideration on November 26.