The Supreme Court on Friday told the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) that it cannot by a judicial order expand its premises by taking over the buildings belonging to other organisations and it can only be done by taking up the issue  with the government administratively.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice PS Narasimha said this to a suggestion by the SCBA President Vikas Singh eyeing the land of a bungalow on which stands the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC).

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Telling the SCBA President Vikas Singh that they were alive to the difficulties being faced by the lawyers, the bench said that they cannot bulldoze the existing structures for the lawyer’s chambers.

Cautioning the SCBA President of the consequences of taking over the lands by a judicial order, CJI Chandrachud said that the lawyers are a part of the  institution and if they use judicial orders, then the message will be like look what the Supreme Court is doing. You are exercising judicial powers and using it for your expansion, today it is land, tomorrow it will be something else, he observed.

Reserving the order, the bench said that how can it do this judicially to take over all buildings across the Supreme Court complex including the Foreign Correspondents’ Club.

Making it clear that dealing with the issue judicially was not the prudent way, the bench underlined that the issue can be dealt with by taking it up with the government at the administrative level.

“We can take it up with the government administratively. This has been the old tradition of the judiciary in our country,” the court said.

As Vikas Singh said that several buildings were taken over to expand Delhi High Court, the bench said that even this was done by taking decisions on the administrative side.

As many senior advocates including Meenakshi Arora, appearing for Supreme Court Advocate on Record Association and Bar Council of India, Chairman, Manan Kumar Mishra aired the hardships being faced by the lawyers, Attorney General R Venkataramani said that the flexibility of administrative side will be beneficial.