Inspection held at Gurugram court record room after fire incident
The inspecting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Ashwini Kumar Mishra, inspected the District and Sessions Court Complex in Gurugram in connection with a fire incident in its record room.
District and Sessions Judge Narender Sura and other judicial and administrative officers were also present during the inspection.
According to an official statement, at the time of inspection, the fire had not been completely brought under control.
Despite this, Justice Mishra inspected the affected building while ensuring compliance with all necessary safety measures and administrative protocols and obtained detailed information about the situation.
During the inspection, Justice Mishra directed all judicial officers to ensure the early reconstruction of case files that were damaged in the fire. He said the high court would extend full cooperation in the process so that judicial work does not suffer and clarified that while judgments in some cases may take time due to the damage to records, all records would be reconstructed in a phased manner.
A meeting on the fire incident was held in the presence of Deputy Commissioner Uttam Singh, Police Commissioner Shibas Kaviraj, District and Sessions Judge Narender Sura, Additional District & Sessions Judge Yashwinder Paul Singh, CJM Rajat Verma, Gurugram Bar Association President Chandrakant Sharma, General Secretary Rahul Dhankhar and other officials.
During the meeting, a preliminary assessment of the damage caused by the fire was conducted and necessary directions were issued to the administration.
District and Sessions Judge Narender Sura said that the final assessment of the damage could not yet be conducted due to the heat in the affected building.
Structural assessment of some portions of the building is still pending, and entry into the premises is currently considered unsafe. A detailed inspection and actual assessment of the damage will be carried out only after reports are received from the NDRF/SDRF and technical agencies.
Judge Sura said the functioning of nearly 21 courts operating from the old court building had been affected due to the fire. Accordingly, arrangements have been made for all these courts to function from the PWD Rest House as an alternative arrangement.
Directions have also been issued by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini to administrative officers to ensure that all necessary facilities are provided to judicial officers for smooth court functioning.
He said the administration is extending full cooperation to ensure uninterrupted judicial work under the alternative arrangements. Special emphasis has been placed on ensuring hearings in urgent and essential matters so that the general public does not face inconvenience.
Judge Sura further stated that, as per preliminary information, most of the records stored in the old record room of the lower courts had been severely affected by the fire.
However, assessment of the actual status of pending cases in some courts is still pending, as entry into the building has not yet been permitted for safety reasons. The complete situation will become clear only after reports from technical teams are received, he said.
The Gurugram Bar Association has also stepped forward to support efforts aimed at restoring normal judicial functioning.
Gurugram Bar Association President Chandrakant Sharma and General Secretary Rahul Dhankhar said the bar association would extend full cooperation to the judiciary and administration in the process of reconstruction of records and files affected by the fire.
They stated that records affected in the incident would be reconstructed as per rules and advocates would also provide all necessary assistance in the process.
A fire broke out in the record room of the district court complex here on Sunday afternoon, prompting authorities to rush 10 fire tenders to the spot, officials said.
No casualties were reported in the incident.
