The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to provide a detailed report on the construction progress of the new complex of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Jammu Bench. The order was passed when the Centre apprised the Bench about the tentative proposal.
The proposal mentioned that once the High Court shifts to the new complex, the old building can be utilized for the purpose of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). The top court bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia was hearing a plea stating the vacancies and pendency of the cases at the CAT Benches in Jammu and Srinagar.
At the onset of the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati presented the updated report mentioning the vacancies and pendency. As per the report, the pendency is slightly lower at 15,000 as opposed to 16000 earlier. Responding to the report, Justice Kaul said that the question remains with vacancies as staff arrangements have been a stop-gap process. He added that they cannot do anything with the problem of pendency.
Following, the Counsel submitted that some progress has been made so far as Srinagar was concerned but in Jammu, the identification of land was an issue. The Counsel stated that it is an ongoing process and that he will place an affidavit on subsequent developments.
After being questioned about the ongoing process, the counsel further stated that they have shown some lands to the members but they are not satisfied as they wanted something close to the High Court Bench.
Meanwhile, putting forward certain instructions, ASG Bhati said that once the High Court building is vacated, the tribunal will shift there. She also clarified that there is a new building that is being constructed for the High Court.
Nonetheless, Justice Kaul replied that the construction of the High Court has not even started. He asserted that possibly ASG Bhati has also not been instructed correctly as in Srinagar, something has happened in the new high court building construction whereas nothing has happened in Jammu.
Following, the court recorded that they have perused the updated status report, but a lot remains to be done. Taking into consideration the proposal made by Bhati, the court ordered that it may also be placed on record as to what is the progress being made as the two aspects are interlinked.