Chandigarh admn mulls allocation of land in Sarangpur to house HC judicial records

The UT administration also told the court that an inspection was carried out of the administrative block and a proposal had been made to shift service book section, accounts branch, DDO section and bill branch, etc., to some vacant space in the old District Court building in Sector 17

The UT administration has told Punjab and Haryana high court that it is considering giving a piece of land to shift judicial records from the high court premises to Sarangpur so that more space could be provided for other purposes at the main complex.

Considering land in Sarangpur to shift judicial records from Punjab and Haryana high court premises. (HT Photo)

Submissions in this regard were made by UT administration’s senior standing counsel Anil Mehta before the bench of acting chief justice Ritu Bahri and justice Nidhi Gupta during the hearing of a PIL by Punjab and Haryana high court Employees Association secretary Vinod Dhatterwal, seeking implementation of the holistic development plan, which envisages setting up of multi-storey buildings to cater to the requirement of additional space. The infrastructure to cater to high footfall on the premises had not kept its pace, the plea said, demanding intervention from the HC on judicial side.

The UT administration also told the court that an inspection was carried out of the administrative block and a proposal had been made to shift service book section, accounts branch, DDO section and bill branch, etc., to some vacant space in the old District Court building in Sector 17. The rooms thus falling vacant will also be upgraded and renovated.

In view of UT’s proposal, senior advocate RS Khosla proposed that the rooms which were going to be vacant after shifting the same to Sector 17 building, be given back to the advocates in the basement of lawyers chambers, which were being used by high court branches. Reacting to this, the bench said this aspect will be looked into by HC building committee.

To the proposal of getting heritage assessment done from IIT Roorkee as part of high court’s holistic development plan, additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain assured the court that he would get a “positive” response by the next date of hearing.

The matter will now be taken up again on December 11.