Described as a pet project of Law Minister H R Bharadwaj, early this month, the Department of Justice formalized it and sought “in-principle” clearance and suggestions from the Ministries of Finance, Urban Development Ministry as well as the Prime Minister’s Office.

Several judges had complained to the Law Ministry about the exorbitant cost of suitable accommodation in the capital post their retirement. One of the prime movers behind the project was retired Justice Shah Mohammad Quadri who told The Indian Express: “I’m happy to learn there has been some official movement on the proposal which I worked on for the past four years. I had made a list of about 60 retired Supreme Court judges who said they were interested in the proposal. The idea is to register a welfare society and for flats to be built at market rates for which payments can be made by the judges on easy instalments.”

Sources said the Law Minister wrote to the Urban Development Ministry to locate suitable land on which some 50-odd apartments could be constructed for the retired judges. Ministry officials said that no “firm reply” was sent to the Minister due to paucity of land but a formal response is being prepared now.

Law Ministry officials said construction of such apartments would ease the pressure on Type VIII bungalows since several SC judges continue to live in Delhi after retiring as they were appointed to head commissions and tribunals.

It’s understood that if the proposal is approved by the Cabinet, land would be allotted to a registered society of retired Justices. There is speculation that one of the prize plots of Government land, in the process of being cancelled after it was allotted to RSS-linked organisations by the NDA, could be earmarked for the residential project.