Discussing the increasing parking problem on the High Court premises, the chief justice asked the opinion of the advocates appearing in the case on using public transport system to reach the court. The chief justice also talked about renowned senior advocates in Delhi who travelled in buses on a daily basis to reach the Supreme Court. “Buses can pick and drop people to the High Court so that there are no parking problems,” the Chief Justice said.

Justice Thakur expressed deep concern over the lack of parking space for vehicles. “We are introducing a multi-level parking system but what will happen to it after ten years? We all come to the court in our cars,” he added.

The observations were made during the resumed hearing of a PIL filed by 16 residents of Panchkula. The petitioners have challenged the construction of Dikshant Public School and sought directions to the Haryana government and the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) to not allow the school on the only green patch left in the sector.

“The children of the sector will be deprived of a playground if the school comes up on the green patch,” the petitioners have stated. On the last date of hearing, the High Court had hauled up HUDA for ‘not applying its mind’ while granting a license to a nursery school without keeping in view the inadequate infrastructure available for it.

In its reply today, HUDA stated that the school authorities have not violated any rules and the construction is being carried out in strict adherence to building norms and layout plan.

An apparent dissatisfied chief justice then asked the counsel for HUDA: “Do you have any norms for nursery schools? What are the norms for parking? Satisfy us about your parking norms. Are you going to make lives of people living in the vicinity miserable?”