The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned a petition, which sought directions to the Ministry of Urban Development to convert a patch of land measuring 1.33 acres, allotted to the Supreme Court, into chamber blocks for lawyers, for hearing on November 21.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit and Justice Bela M. Trivedi adjourned the matter, after Attorney General R. Venkataramani sought time to take up the matter with officials of the Ministries, by way of meetings with SCBA members.
The Apex Court had, earlier during the hearing, asked the AG to find a solution to the matter.
Appearing for the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Senior Advocate Vikas Singh submitted that he had interacted with the Judges’ Committee, which had said that it was for the lawyers to decide how the land was to be utilised.
The CJI responded to Singh, saying the administration has stated that they granted land to the Supreme Court and not to lawyers. While speaking about the administrative side, he said the Judges’ committee cannot override policy decisions of the government.
Stressing on the importance of the issue related to Advocates not getting chambers, Singh submitted that the lawyers community has exploded in the past 30 years.
He further said that not all lawyers were well-off. He added that every lawyer getting a chamber did not have means to have a private office and often these chambers were passed down to children.
The CJI noted the submissions made by Singh, who claimed that the plot of land in question could accommodate more than 1000 chambers.
Regarding the part of land marked for archives of the Supreme Court, Singh has contended that the existing facilities available with the Supreme Court could fulfill this requirement, added Justice Lalit.
Regarding Singh’s demand for consideration of expanding the matter and considering Prayer B, the CJI said the matter would be considered by an appropriate bench.