Around half of the 698 district judges in Delhi do not have any official accommodation, highlighting a severe shortage of housing for the judiciary.
This housing crisis has led to a situation where many of the judges, who are not allotted any official accommodation, are taking up residences in neighbouring Ghaziabad, Noida and Gurugram.
The Judicial Service Association of Delhi said the judges are not in a position to afford accommodation closer to their court complexes here as the House Rent Allowance (HRA) is not commensurate with the “prohibitive” rent in these neighbourhoods.
For an entry-level judge appointed under the Delhi Judicial Service (DJS), the HRA is ₹21,016.
As of September 2023, only 348 residences were available for allocation to the judges in the city, according to the Department of Justice website.
The Judicial Service Association of Delhi said “an immediate consequence of this is a reduction in the productivity of these judicial officers who are forced to travel long distances to reach their housing complexes”.
At present, India has 19,888 district judges and there are 18,861 residential units available, leaving a shortfall of 1,027 residential units. This translates to Delhi accounting for one-third of all residential units shortage in India.
There are three residential complexes for district judges in Delhi. One of these is near the Karkaddooma Courts Complex with 55 units. The second one is near the Saket Courts Complex with 128 units and the third near the Rohini Court Complex with 48 units.
Another 117 units have been allocated from the judicial pool in different government colonies managed by the Delhi government such as in Model Town, Timarpur, and the Civil Lines.
Failed projects
In 2014, a residential project of 70 flats was initiated at Dwarka, Sector 19, with a stipulated completion date of February 2016. However, as on date, this project has still not been completed.
In 2018, a plot of around 10,000 square metres at Anand Vihar was allocated by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for construction of residential units. However, as the land use for this site never got converted from ‘commercial’ to “residential”, no construction took place.
Another plot of land was earmarked for building residential units at Vishwas Nagar, Shahdara. However, a Delhi High Court committee last year found that the area was “not suitable for Judicial Officers’ residence”.
Judges move court
With no relief in sight, the Judicial Service Association of Delhi, through its president Mr. Rajesh Malik (DHJS), recently moved the Delhi High Court flagging the paucity of government accommodation for the judges serving in Delhi.
Advocate Sachin Jain, representing the association, explained that there are three stakeholders in this issue. “The land is issued by the DDA. The fund is provided by the Delhi government and the approval is to be given by the Delhi High Court Administrative side,” Mr Jain said.
He said the issue of government accommodation for judges was discussed by the Supreme Court in 1993 where the top court observed that “providing adequate residential accommodation should be considered as a priority”.
Mr Jain suggested that the judges could be considered for allotment of residential housing from the Central government pool and the State government pool until the judicial pool is made sufficient.
In August this year, the High Court said it was “very unfortunate that neither the GNCTD nor the DDA has filed any reply in the matter, only seeking time to do so and informing this Court that the matter is under active consideration”.
