High Court to revive old holistic plan, Chandigarh hands over Sector 17 building for court records

In a related development, the Chandigarh Administration handed over keys to a renovated building in Sector 17 to the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana. The building will be used to store court records, freeing up space within the High Court for other uses. The handover happened during the same court hearing.

The hearing also addressed related infrastructure issues, including the development of a katcha parking lot near the High Court. The UT Administration reported that a landscaping consultant’s drawings, sent to the Chief Architect on July 22, 2025, proposed parking for 783 cars, up from an initial 400. The plan, approved by the High Court’s Building Committee, allocates 18×10 feet per car, with a 7.5-foot berm between opposing parking spaces. However, the Bar Association raised concerns about unclear dimensions (meters vs. feet), prompting the court to direct the administration to share revised plans with stakeholders.

Traffic congestion around the High Court, particularly from Gate 1 to the Rock Garden, was another point of contention. The Bar Association alleged that lawyers’ indiscriminate parking on pathways exacerbated the issue, while the UT Administration countered that 26 traffic policemen faced resistance, including threats, when issuing challans.