Judges to get high-rise housing nationwide
The government has moved to construct 10- to 15-storey residential complexes for judicial officers in all 64 districts and eight metropolitan cities, seeking to address their housing shortage and security concerns.
The Law and Justice Division under the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has instructed district and sessions judges to identify suitable sites and submit spatial layouts and other necessary information for the proposed buildings, according to a PID handout.
The Planning Unit of the Law and Justice Division issued a letter to this effect on September 2.
The initiative comes amid an acute shortage of integrated government accommodation for judicial officers. Around 30 to 50 judges of different ranks currently work in civil and criminal courts and various special tribunals in each district, the letter said.
Except in a few districts, however, adequate government residential facilities for judges are unavailable.
As a result, most judicial officers have to live in rented houses, which the Law and Justice Division said could expose them and their families to security risks because of the sensitive nature of the cases they handle.
The division said adequate land was available at many locations under district judgeships for constructing residential buildings.
It said modern 10- to 15-storey residential complexes in each district and metropolitan city would not only help address the current housing crisis but also meet future demand through better use of available land.
The centralised arrangement would also make it easier to maintain security, including CCTV surveillance, designated entry points and round-the-clock armed police protection, according to the letter.
The buildings are proposed under a project titled “Construction of Residential Buildings for Judicial Officers in 64 Districts and 8 Metropolitan Cities.”
Under the project, district and sessions judges have been asked to provide details and spatial layouts showing the amount of land available at court premises, as well as old court and Munsif court premises under their jurisdiction.
Where sufficient land is unavailable at court premises, judges have been asked to identify potential sites within one kilometre of the district judge court building, where land could be acquired if necessary.
The executive engineers of the Public Works Department in the respective districts have also been instructed to take necessary measures to conduct digital surveys of the selected sites.
