Gurugram Court Working From Guest House: High Court Raps Haryana Govt Over Delay In 'Tower of Justice' Project
Taking serious note of the continued delay in completion of the Gurugram district judiciary's new court complex, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today observed that the functionality of courts cannot be jeopardised due to lapses on the part of State authorities, especially when judicial work is presently being carried out from a guest house following a fire incident.
'Tower of Justice', spread across seven acres, is stated as the largest judicial complex in north India by Haryana government in 2017.
Pursuant to earlier directions, a status report was submitted by the District Judge, Gurugram, indicating that the building is still not complete or functional. The report further highlighted that several statutory clearances are yet to be obtained.
In this backdrop Acting Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor said, "Though a feeble attempt is made to suggest that the environmental permission was not applied but in view of the admitted position that construction was being made by the State authorities, it was for the constructing agency, which is the agency of the State Government to have done so. For any fault on the part of the authorities, the functionality of the Court cannot be put to jeopardy when it is undisputed that the Court is currently being made to function from a Guest House on account of a fire incident occurred in the premises."
The High Court had earlier taken suo motu cognisance of the delay and recorded that the project had been pending for nearly “eight-nine years.” Despite multiple deadlines, the building has not yet been handed over.
On the previous hearing dated April 29, the Court had warned that coercive steps would be taken if the project was not completed by May 15.
The matter is now listed for tomorrow in the urgent list.
Mr. Deepak Balyan, Addl. A.G., Haryana