CHANDIGARH – In a significant legal development, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed that the guesthouse and a residence currently occupied by the Malerkotla Deputy Commissioner and Senior Superintendent of Police be vacated immediately. The properties are to be allotted to the District and Sessions Judge for use as a residence and, if viable, a courtroom. This directive highlights the persistent issue of Malerkotla judges housing.
The Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry, made it clear that the state’s repeated failure to provide permanent courtrooms and housing for judicial officers had compelled the court to intervene. “Looking at the large number of cases pending in Malerkotla and the State repeatedly failing to provide any infrastructure… this court is compelled, by reasons attributed to State of Punjab, to direct that the guesthouse… and the other house occupied by the Senior Superintendent of Police, be vacated forthwith,” the Bench asserted.
The directions came on a bunch of petitions filed by the District Bar Association, Malerkotla. The court referred to its building committee’s opinion, which had earlier stated that if the state failed to construct permanent courtrooms and residential accommodation for judicial officers within a year, the executive officers’ current accommodation could be provided to them.
The Bench observed that there is “no residential accommodation of the prescribed standards” suitable for a District & Sessions Judge, Additional District Judge, and Civil Judge to reside in. It also pointed out that the issue of two temporary courtrooms that required conversion into permanent facilities had been overlooked. The matter is posted for further hearing on September 30, and the court has requested its building committee to reconsider the issue of permanent courtrooms.