Punjab and Haryana High Court: In a set of two Public Interest Litigations regarding the lack and poor conditions of residential houses and courtrooms of Judicial Officers (‘JO’), the Division Bench of Sheel Nagu, CJ and Anil Kshetarpal, J., took note of the poor living and working conditions faced by the JOs and directed the State to repair the courtrooms and allot the entire Court building to JOs in Sub-Division Derabassi, Mohali.
The Court was informed that there was a very sorry state of affairs regarding the non-availability of residential houses and courtrooms for JOs. The Court noted that there was no response from the State as to why the majority of houses occupied by the JOs were in a dilapidated state with no repair being carried out for years, forcing the JOs to occupy unsuitable residential accommodations.
The Court noted that in Amritsar District, where there were only 38 available residential houses for 55 JOs. Out of these 38 houses, 12 were under minor repairs, and 26 were under major repairs hence, there were no habitable houses available. The Court stated that the situation was grimmer in Ludhiana as there were only 33 houses available for 91 JOs.
Taking this sad state of affairs on a serious note, the Court said that the State was treating the third pillar of democracy, i.e., the Judiciary, very shabbily. The Court said that it was compelled to pass stringent orders to prevent the situation from worsening when the new batch of newly recruited JOs would join in March/April 2025.
The Court was also informed that the office of Sub-Divisional Magistrate (‘SDM’) of Sub-Division Derabassi, Mohali, was in a very good condition compared to the three Judicial Courts on the floor right below. Considering the State’s inaction, the Court directed the SDM, Derabassi to vacate his office in two weeks and report compliance. The Court also directed the State to issue an allotment order for the entire building in favour of the Sub-Divisional Judicial Courts for the occupation of the JOs for holding Court within two weeks and report compliance. The Court further directed the State to ensure the completion of repairs of the courtrooms before the next hearing, and a compliance report along with photographs was filed.
[District Bar Association, Malerkotla v. State of Punjab, Civil PIL No. 170 of 2024, decided on 20-12-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the petitioner: Advocates S.S. Behl, Gaurav Vir Singh Behl, and Salil Sabhlok
For the respondent: Additional Chief Secretary (Justice) Alok Shekhar Srivastava, Deputy Secretary of Department of Justice Amarinder Singh, Additional Chief Architect PWD (B&R) Branch Tarun Garg, Additional Advocate General Deepak Balyan, Additional Standing Counsel Abhinav Sood, Nitesh Jhajhria, Mehndi Singhal, Senior Advocate Gaurav Chopra, Shobit Phutela, and Sanya Kapoor
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