Chandigarh's Space Crunch: UT Informs High Court of No Room for Branches in Old Secretariat

The Chandigarh Union Territory (UT) administration has formally conveyed to the High Court that the historic Old Secretariat building is at full capacity, making it impossible to accommodate new High Court branches. This significant declaration comes in response to a petition advocating for the establishment of High Court branches in Punjab and Haryana, aiming to decentralize judicial services and improve access to justice for citizens in both states.

Previously, the High Court had directed the UT administration to identify suitable locations for these proposed branches.

However, the UT's latest affidavit presents a clear hurdle, stating that the Old Secretariat, a vital administrative hub, is already brimming with various departments and offices. These include critical administrative units belonging to both the Punjab and Haryana state governments, along with several of Chandigarh's own essential departments.

The administration's stance highlights a long-standing challenge of limited prime real estate within the highly planned city.

It emphasized that the building's current occupancy leaves absolutely no scope for housing additional judicial wings. This creates a bottleneck, especially given the increasing demand for judicial infrastructure to serve the growing populations of Punjab and Haryana.

In a direct counter-proposal, the Chandigarh UT has suggested that the responsibility for constructing new High Court buildings or dedicated premises for their respective branches should fall squarely on the Punjab and Haryana state governments.

The current Punjab and Haryana High Court building, a masterpiece of modern architecture, is shared by both states, a testament to the shared administrative legacy but also a source of potential spatial constraints as judicial caseloads expand.

This development underscores the complex interplay between administrative capacity, judicial needs, and the perennial issue of space in Chandigarh.

The UT's unequivocal statement now shifts the onus back to the states, demanding a proactive approach to developing their own independent judicial infrastructure if they wish to establish High Court branches outside the existing shared facility.