District status to Mohali seems to have come at a cost. Four out of the eight community centres in the city have been taken over by the police and judiciary, which moved in after the district status in April 2006.

Residents are now complaining as the space to hold weddings and other social functions has “crunched”.

On the other hand, the government had little option in 2006. Infrastructure in the new district to house these institutions was not ready.

While the community centres in Phases VI, XI and Sector 71 were occupied by the district police to set up the Police Lines and a police station, the centre at Phase 3B1 was used to house the court.

Also, a habitat centre in Phase X, locked since it came up a few years ago, has been allotted to the Indian Institute of Nanotechnology to run its “transit campus”.

Though authorities say the arrangement is “temporary” and assure to free these soon, residents complain they have been “deprived” of these centres.

Incidentally, these centres do not fulfill the requirements of the government institutions housed in them. For example, the four courts, including two district benches, in the community centre in Phase 3B1 have no chambers for lawyers and other service providers, library, toilets, drinking water provision or canteen.

Even the courtrooms and retiring rooms for judges have been adjusted according to the available space, and do not comply with the High Court Building Rules.

“When the government and judiciary themselves violate the rules, how can they enforce them,” lawyer Rajesh Gupta said. He added it was “strange” that judicial courts were set up in a community centre without even basic facilities for lawyers and litigants, which is “a blatant violation of the laid down norms”.

... contd.