ASG Satya Pal Jain flays Chandigarh admin for ‘slipshod’ response on proposal to expand Punjab and Haryana HC

Space crunch on HC premises

Intense deliberations have been underway on how to address the acute space crunch at the court’s Sector 1 premises, which form part of Chandigarh’s Unesco World Heritage-designated Capitol Complex. The Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association recently deferred its planned general house meeting and referendum on relocating the court to Sarangpur, pending a key decision from the Centre on de-reserving adjacent forest land for expansion.

ASG Jain is learnt to have stepped in to push the proposal forward, with the Bar awaiting the Centre’s response before deciding between expansion and relocation.

On Friday, Jain said the Chief Architect’s written response to the proposal to use forest land maintained that the proposed stretch lies in a reserved forest notified under the Indian Forest Act, forms part of the Sukhna wetland catchment, and falls in an eco-sensitive zone as notified in 2017. The area is also marked as “forest” in the city’s master plan, where urban development is prohibited north of the Capitol Complex.

The chief architect’s note also cited the high court’s 2009 ruling against new construction in the eco-sensitive zone, insisting any diversion of forest land requires strong justification and exploration of alternatives.

Jain told the bench that a way forward was possible “if there is will.” To this, CJ Nagu quipped, “Where there is will there is a way.”

Drawing from his public life, Jain recalled how the Kaimbwala Road in Chandigarh was built despite the Forest Department’s objections when he was a Member of Parliament. “The Forest Department said it can’t be converted. I went to then Union minister Suresh Prabhu, who gave the permission. The road cut 10 km of travel to Chandigarh.”

The bench has now asked the Bar Association to hold a general body meeting to decide whether members want to stay on the existing premises with expansion, or shift to Sarangpur, the site strongly pushed by the Union territory administration. The case will be heard again on September 26.

Meeting to be held on September 22

Bar president Sartej Singh Narula told the court that the general body meeting would be held around September 22. He said they had deferred the meeting since there was now a third option in place of extending into the forest land. After seeking clarification on the third option, saying he had to give the members an estimate of the exact area under expansion, he said, “We will put all options before the members.”

Interestingly, it was brought to the notice of the members that the forest officials had clarified that the land near the high court bridge did not fall under its purview.

As UT senior standing counsel Amit Jhanji opposed the idea, arguing that “there was never any such proposal in the first place,” Jain reminded him of an earlier court direction. “Let’s keep our egos aside,” the ASG said.

When CJ Nagu suggested that they should go ahead with the approved holistic development plan. Jhanji said even this would require a fresh, lengthy vetting process by IIT Roorkee and other stakeholders.

He also sought and was allowed more time for laying the new kutcha parking, and declined the CJ’s suggestion to hand over two floors of the old UT Secretariat for the court’s administrative staff.

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