Gurgaon: Tower of Justice, planned as a large modern judicial complex spread over seven acres, was intended to house multiple courtrooms and judicial facilities. Construction began in 2017 with a three-year deadline, but nine years later, the project remains incomplete.Taking serious note of the repeated delays and slow progress, Punjab and Haryana high court described the prolonged wait as “administrative inefficiency” and issued a notice to the state govt. On Wednesday, the court set May 15 as the final deadline and warned that if the project is not completed by then, it may initiate action against the chief secretary and other officials responsible for the delay.When TOI Contacted the public works department, which is the executing agency, officials declined to comment, saying the matter was sub judice. “The matter is before the court. We are not in a position to say anything at this point,” an official said.Expressing frustration over repeated extensions and the authorities’ lack of urgency, the High Court (HC) gave a two-week deadline to complete the project or face action.“The delay in completing such an important judicial infrastructure project is a matter of grave concern. Despite several opportunities and longer timelines being given earlier, the work remains unfinished,” HC said. The court said responsibility would be fixed and action could be taken against officials if the deadline was missed again.The tower will consist of two blocks of eight and seven floors, accommodating 55 district and sessions courts. At present, the city has 45 courts handling around 65,000 pending cases.The cost has now risen to Rs 295 crore from the initial estimate of Rs 113 crore.The foundation stone for the judicial complex was laid in 2014, but the project was delayed mainly due to issues linked to transfer of land held by the agriculture department. After the land hurdle was cleared, construction was inaugurated by several HC judges in Jan 2017. The project was expected to complete by 2020.Each floor will have a waiting area and seating for assistant district attorneys. The ground floor will include a single-window care center for legal services and a centralized complaint filing system. The first floor will house a library and a bar room with seating for 1,500 people. Women advocates will also get a separate bar room for the first time. The premises will also have multi-level parking.To improve security and prevent untoward incidents, separate entry and lift access have been planned for accused persons appearing in court. The complex will also have 20 mediation centres, compared with only six in other districts. A separate block will house facilities such as banks and post offices.At present, due to lack of space, court operations are spread across three premises. Lawyers struggle to find seating, and vehicles parked around the court complex often disrupt traffic movement. “At present, four judges sit at mini secretariat, four at Vikas Sadan and other judges in the district court complex, leading to a lot of roaming around for even minor matters,” said Rajiv Kaushik, member of district bar association.
