Lawyers block Old Railway road over lack of sitting space causing traffic jam at Rajiv Chowk

The traffic was diverted on the Old Railway road entering from Sohna via the under underpass, the Expressway or from the Old Gurugram side.

A massive traffic jam brought Rajiv Chowk and its surrounding areas to a standstill on Thursday afternoon after lawyers staged a protest by blocking Old Railway Road. The protest, held over the lack of sitting space in both the existing and upcoming court buildings, disrupted traffic flow on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway and Sohna Road.

Traffic snarl at Rajiv Chowk due tot he protest on Thursday. (HT Photo)

Several school buses were stuck at Rajiv Chowk for over an hour, with students unable to exit due to the jam.

The traffic was diverted on the Old Railway road entering from Sohna via the under underpass, the Expressway or from the Old Gurugram side.

The traffic police at the spot were diverting the traffic from the chowk on the expressway service lane via the connecting road of the civil court. The congestion also caused gridlock at nearby points, including the Sadar Bazaar area, worsened by waterlogging.

A traffic police official said that they have placed barricades to divert the traffic coming from the Jail Road. “It’s now been more than an hour since the protest was going on,” he said, adding the lawyers kept the road blocked from 12.30pm to 2pm.

Rohit Tanwar, a commuter, said that he was trapped in the traffic for more than 40 minutes. “I have barely been able to move 100 metres. I am unaware of what this jam is for as I can only see a sea of vehicles from here,” he said.

The protest also affected the routine judicial works in the civil court on Thursday.

Nikesh Raj Yadav, Gurugram bar association president said that they were forced to protest on the road after exhausting all their options. “We have given representation to our inspecting high court judge, Gurugram deputy commission and even to Haryana chief minister too so that we must be provided sitting space with the upcoming seven-floor new court building but no action has been taken yet,” he said.

He added that he and some other bar members had also observed a two-day hunger strike inside the civil court premises on July 17 and 18 to grab attention to the issue.

The new court complex, named as the Tower of Justice, was proposed in 2014, with construction starting in 2017. The ₹125-crore project was initially scheduled for completion within 36 months, but remains unfinished even after a five-year delay.

Vinod Kataria, former bar association president said that the Haryana government is building new court buildings across the state but it’s only the Gurugram project where there is no sitting space for lawyers.

Kataria also said that there are 10,500 members of the Gurugram district court bar association, of which at least 4,000 are actively practising. “In comparison to this, chambers for only 996 lawyers are available inside the civil court premises,” he said, adding young lawyers entering the profession have no space to even rest inside the court premises.

“We have repeatedly requested the government to give us sitting space in the seven acres of government land available along with the new court building but no development ever took place,” he said.

Kataria said there are only 55 courtrooms inside it while the working strength of the civil court judicial magistrates and district and sessions judges has already reached 76 presently.

“Washrooms inside the existing civil court building have been refurbished to create space for judges,” he added.