Supreme Court: The 3-Judge Bench comprising of Dr. DY Chandrachud, CJI JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, JJ. directed the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (‘GNCTD’) to float tenders for the construction of various judicial infrastructure projects, namely the District Centre, Shastri Park, Karkardooma Court Complex, Sector 26 Rohini, Rouse Avenue, centralized record room and digitization centre for catering all the District Courts of Delhi and additional Court rooms.
In pursuance of the previous order dated 11-12-2023, a meeting was held on 12-12-2023 chaired by Justice Manmohan, the Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court was convened, attended by the Chief Secretary, GNCTD, Principal Secretary (Law), Principal Secretary (PWD), Secretary (Finance), other officers of GNCTD and Land & Development Office. The meeting was also attended by Justice Rajiv Shakdher, Judge, Delhi High Court and the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court and all the major requirements, clearance, land usage were discussed during the meeting.
The Court noted that the construction of the residential project comprising 70 residential units for Judicial officers commenced at Dwarka in October 2014, however, it came to a standstill due to structural defects which endangered the construction. The Court also perused a report by the Central Buidling Research Institute (‘CBRI’), Roorkee which highlighted the substandard quality of construction and hence, the project was stalled.
In order to facilitate the decisions taken in the said meeting, the Court passed the following directions:
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An affidavit shall be filed on behalf of the GNCTD by 31-01-2024 certifying the floating of tenders for the construction of judicial infrastructures, within the decided timelines.
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A review meeting shall be convened on 12-01-2023 under the auspices of the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court and the Chief Secretary, GNCTD shall inform the steps taken in pursuance of the decisions which were arrived at in the earlier meeting.
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The Chief Secretary, GNCTD shall apprise the members of the meeting of actions taken in respect of:
(a) Residential accommodation for judicial officers;
(b) The process for the recruitment of staff at the district level; and
(c) Provision of additional Court rooms on a temporary basis, including making necessary outlays for the expenditure required for converting the premises into Court rooms.
[Malik Mazhar Sultan v. U.P. Public Service Commission, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1225, Order dated: 14-12-2023]
