Flooding of High Court record room: 6 months on, Chandigarh fails to address infra issues
Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 12
The flooding of the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s record room in Sector 17 with more than 20 lakh case files has exposed severe infrastructural deficiencies that had been acknowledged by the UT authorities, but left unaddressed for months. The calamity occurred on August 11 when relentless rains triggered extensive flooding and sewage backflow into the basement, submerging files and soaking decades of crucial case documents.
The critical state of the Sector 17 building had been documented in the minutes of a February 15 meeting chaired by High Court Building Committee Chairman Justice Deepak Sibal. The meeting, which was attended by the UT Home and Finance Secretaries, recognised the severe space constraints affecting both the High Court and the District Courts Complex. Despite acknowledging the urgent need for a solution, no effective measures were implemented over the ensuing six months. The failure to act apparently culminated in the disastrous flooding that ravaged the record room.
The minutes of the February meeting reveal that an inspection had already highlighted the dire conditions within the High Court Extension Building, located in the old District Courts Complex. The inspection report detailed that the premises were overloaded with judicial records. Racks were filled to capacity, and records had been stored on floors and even in stairwells due to the lack of space. The conditions were described as “pathetic” and “inhuman”, with blocked ventilation and accumulating dust exacerbating the problem.
On August 10, the basement, housing approximately 20 lakh case files, was inundated by a combination of rainwater and sewage. The usually serene basement corridors turned chaotic as staff struggled through knee-deep water, forming human chains to move the soaked files to safer areas. The weight of the drenched documents and the rising water made every step a challenge.
The High Court has since 2013 been hearing a petition filed in public interest on the High Court’s expansion. It had only recently rapped the UT Administration for deflecting the issue regarding allotment of land, while “cornering prime property for its own use, including the new DC Office, which is to be set up in Sector 17 next to Shivalik Hotel”.
Meanwhile, a day after the flooding of the High Court record room in Sector 17, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday advanced the hearing on a bunch of petition filed on the High court’s expansion, including a petition filed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association way back in 2013. The hearing will now take place on Tuesday.
The High Court, during the course of hearing, had rapped the UT Administration for dragging feet on its horizontal expansion. The Administration was also castigated for securing valuable property for its exclusive use, while diverting attention from the issue of land allotment to the High Court.
The Bench had also directed the filing of an affidavit by the Adviser to UT Administrator on money spent on the New Secretariat building and the area lying vacant in the old Secretariat building in Sector 9. Details were also sought regarding the footfall in the building vis-à-vis the High Court.
Hearing on expansion pleas today
A day after the flooding of the High Court record room in Sector 17, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday advanced the hearing on a bunch of petition filed on the High court’s expansion, including a petition filed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association way back in 2013. The hearing will now take place on Tuesday.
