New Delhi [India], September 12 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a plea seeking to issue direction to the Ministry of Urban Development to convert the entire land admeasuring 1.33 acres allotted to the top court behind the petrol pump near ITO on the Ring Road into chamber blocks for lawyers.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit directed the Centre to file a reply on the plea in two weeks.

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The court was hearing a plea filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association. Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appeared for the association. The plea was filed through an advocate-on-record Yugandhara Pawar Jha.

In the plea, SCBA has urged the top court to issue direction to the Ministry of Urban Development to grant permission for the conversion of the entire land admeasuring 1.33 acres allotted to the Supreme Court behind the petrol pump near ITO as a chamber block for lawyers.

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The petitioner also sought to direct the ministry to convert the entire area around the Supreme Court into a Supreme Court Complex so that all the buildings across the top court on Bhagwan Das Road including the Foreign Correspondents Club of South Asia, Indian Law Institute, Indian Society of International Law among others can be utilized either for conversion into the chamber or for re-development as chamber block/use for the activities of the Supreme Court or for other amenities for lawyers.

The plea also sought to issue direction to the ministry to allot the government bungalow presently being occupied by Foreign Correspondents Club to the Petitioner.

SCBA said that in recent years, the number of advocates practising in the Supreme Court has increased manifold and the same has spiked the requirement of chambers and other Supreme court-related activities in the Supreme Court vicinity. The Petitioner Association has a duty towards its members to meet their growing requirements and ensure that chambers are allotted as per the Seniority list expeditiously.

In this backdrop, it is pertinent to mention that chamber blocks of the Supreme Court can no longer accommodate the growing number of lawyers eligible for allotment. As a result, the Petitioner Association requires additional space to cater to the accretion in the number of members in the Association in and around the Supreme Court of India, the plea said. (ANI)

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