HC orders DC, SSP Malerkotla to vacate official residences for judicial officers

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed that the guesthouse and a residence currently occupied by Malerkotla Deputy Commissioner and Senior Superintendent of Police be vacated forthwith and allotted to the District and Sessions Judge for use as residence and, if viable, as courtroom.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry made it clear that Punjab’s repeated failure to provide permanent courtrooms and judicial officers’ housing had compelled the court to intervene.

“Looking at the large number of cases pending in Malerkotla and the State repeatedly failing to provide any infrastructure in the form of permanent courtrooms and residential accommodations for the judicial officers, despite formation of new revenue district of Malerkotla on June 2, 2021, and creation of Sessions Division at Malerkotla – subject to availability of infrastructure – way back in August 2023, this court is compelled, by reasons attributed to State of Punjab, to direct that the guesthouse presently occupied by the Deputy Commissioner and the other house occupied by the Senior Superintendent of Police, be vacated forthwith and appropriate allotment letters be issued in favour of the District & Sessions Judge, for official residence/courtroom (if viable) qua District & Sessions Judge,” the Bench asserted.

The directions came on a bunch of petitions filed in public interest by the District Bar Association, Malerkotla, through advocates Gaurav Vir Singh Behl, Raageshwari Sharma and Jugraj Singh Chauhan. The Bench, during the course of hearing, referred to its building committee’s opinion that the accommodation, presently occupied by the executive officers, could be provided to the judicial officers, if the promise of the State functionaries to construct permanent courtrooms and residential accommodation for the judicial officers was not complied with within a one year.

Referring to the committee’s opinion and an affidavit filed by Punjab in the matter, the Bench observed “there is no residential accommodation of the prescribed standards in terms of the notification dated June 17, 2014, suitable for the District & Sessions Judge, Additional District Judge and Civil Judge (SD)/Chief Judicial Magistrate, to reside in.”

The Bench also pointed out that the building committee appeared to have overlooked the issue of two temporary courtrooms at Malerkotla which required conversion into permanent facilities, and requested the committee to consider the aspect afresh. The matter has been posted for further hearing on September 30.