Many court rooms of Tis Hazari & Patiala House court at New Delhi need an AC
19 Jan, 2015Amit Sahni, a lawyer, had raised the issue relating to the need for installation of Air Conditioners (ACs) in the court rooms of Tis Hazari and Patiala House court complexes at New Delhi. The aforesaid courts are visited by thousands of litigants daily apart from the regular staff, lawyers and judicial officers working in the court. In reply to his Right to Information (RTI) application, he was informed that there were “no written guidelines” regarding installation of ACs. The reply added that the work in this regard was in progress. It is noteworthy that all the district courts in Delhi are centrally air-conditioned except for Tis Hazari and Patiala House. In the Tis Hazari court, while the ACs have been installed in almost all the offices of the clerical staff, however many of the court rooms continue to work without an AC.
The applicant filed a public interest petition moved in the High Court claiming that providing an efficient working environment in all court rooms would speed up the speed of disposal of pending cases. He also argued that the consideration of seniority in providing the basic facility of AC was bad in law and against the principles laid down in the Constitution. Now, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice R.S. Endlaw of the Delhi High Court has directed the counsel present for the two District Judges, who directly or indirectly manage the building maintenance committees of their respective districts, to take instructions on the issue. The next hearing for the matter has been fixed for April 25.