HC’s holistic development plan: Chandigarh told to clear stand by April 26

The Punjab and Haryana high court has given the Chandigarh administration till April 26 to clear their stand on “holistic development plan” of the high court complex.

A high court bench of chief justice RS Jha and justice Arun Palli passed the order after being apprised by additional solicitor general, Satya Pal Jain. He said he had sought instructions from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Survey of India and both of them have categorically stated that there was no impediment created on their part in implementation of the plan.

The court was hearing a plea from Vinod Dhatterwal, secretary, Punjab and Haryana High Court Employees Association, seeking implementation of the plan, which envisaged setting up of multi-storey buildings to cater to the requirement of additional space. The plea said that around 10,000 cars and thousands of two-wheelers come to the high court daily as there are 10,000 lawyers, over 3,300 court employees and a large number of litigants visit the court on a daily basis. “From the security and emergency perspective, even a small incident can lead to a rampage, resulting in unimagined loss,” the plea said seeking court’s attention.

The bench observed that the statements and stand taken by the Chandigarh administration before the building committee of high court regarding obtaining of the survey, etc., from ASI appears to be incorrect.

Giving time till April 26, the court asked UT’s counsel that the stand of the Chandigarh administration be placed before the court in an affidavit of the highest authority.

Earlier, the UT’s counsel had sought time stating that he would seek instructions to make a clear statement on the issues raised by the building committee regarding implementation of the plan, especially in view of Centre’s stand the sole prerogative and responsibility was of Chandigarh administration in this regard.