Delay in land allotment: UT admn keeping prime property for itself, remarks HC

Miffed over the delay in the decision of giving three plots to the high court in Sarangpur, the Punjab and Haryana high court has directed the adviser to the administrator to file an affidavit as to how much money has been spent on the new secretariat building and how much area is lying vacant in old secretariat building, Sector 9. It was in January, the high court had directed UT administration to allot three plots of 15 acres of land in Sarangpur to high court for setting up some additional facilities. Accordingly, details be also given of the plot allotted for the said use and its area and the costing factor for raising the same,” the bench of justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Lapita Banerji observed during resumed hearing of a public interest litigation highlighting infrastructural deficiencies at the high court complex. “In spite of directions issued on 19.01.2024 and 02.02.2024 for the allotment of three plots, which are lying vacant in Sarangpur, for expansion of the high court, the Chandigarh administration continues to drag its feet, and has not come up with any positive offer,” the bench further recorded suggesting that UT was aware of the problems being faced by litigants and employees etc everyday, and two senior officers had visited the premises on February 15 and saw the working at high court.