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Keeping in view the security aspect of the High Court, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed its Registrar General to ensure that litigants are allowed to enter the High Court building only from “Gate No. 3” after being subjected to metal detector and frisking. The directions have been issued by the division Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Anil Kshetarpal, which has been hearing a plea from Vinod Dhatterwal, secretary, Punjab and Haryana High Court Employees Association, seeking implementation of the plan which envisaged setting up of multi-storey buildings to cater to the requirement of additional space. The Bench, which is hearing multiple issues concerning the High Court building and security, directed “Registrar General of this High Court shall ensure that the litigants are allowed to enter the High Court building only from Gate No.3, after being subjected to metal detector and frisking, if necessary, and disclosing their identity by way of pass”. “As a necessary consequence, entry of litigants from Gate No.1, 2, 4 and 5, is henceforth prohibited. This prohibitory order shall be enforced with effect from August 29, 2024, 10 AM,” the court ordered. Regarding the process to be adopted for securing all entry and exit points in respect of the lawyers, the HC said that “same is under consideration of the Security Committee whose recommendations are awaited”. During the resumed hearing, the Chandigarh Administration proposed a traffic management plan for entering and exiting the High Court premises from a single-entry road. The Chandigarh Administration previously had assured the HC to submit a traffic circulation plan, so as to ease the traffic congestion which takes place in the morning and evening in and around the High Court campus. The Bench said that “looking to the volume of four-wheelers and two-wheelers, which is alleged to be around 3,000, specially during the period between 9.30 am to 11 am, and 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm, proposal of a single-entry road may not be viable”. The Bench added that it would thus be appropriate that mind is applied afresh by an officer of the rank not less than Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Traffic, who has expertise in traffic planning for re-submitting a fresh traffic management plan on the next date of hearing. “The traffic experts are free to suggest ways and means including widening of roads, removing/restricting dividers or proposing new and additional routes for entry and exit,” the Bench said. On another issue, while the HC previously had asked for expeditious completion of the heritage impact assessment, the counsel for Union of India filed an affidavit of Sanjay Kumar, director, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, Geo-Spatial Directorate, Survey of India, which revealed that “the map of catchment area of Sukhna Lake, was prepared after conducting the process of delineation but not demarcation”. To ascertain the correct facts at the ground level, the HC directed the Survey of India to conduct physical demarcation by expert in the field and submit a report only of that part of Sukhna encatchment area, which is closest to or overlapping the High Court area. “The physical demarcation map ought to disclose the extent to which encatchment area overlapse the High Court premises (in case there is overlapping),” ordered the HC. The Bench also clarified that “at the cost of reiteration that survey by way of demarcation shall be conducted of only that part of catchment area, which is close to the High Court or is overlapping, as the case may be”. An affidavit was also filed by the Chandigarh Administration stating that it can make available 27,000 square feet area at Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT), Sector 17, Chandigarh, for use by High Court on a temporary basis. The HC, on the submission of Chandigarh Administration counsel, directed the Registrar General of the High Court to visit the site at ISBT, Sector 17, Chandigarh, along with Registrar concerned and the representative of High Court Bar Association and High Court Employees Association to ascertain the suitability of the site for the High Court and submit a report on the next date of hearing. The matter was adjourned for August 30. Click here to join The Indian Express on WhatsApp and get latest news and updates None
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