Souls of Courts and Parliaments are not in the Buildings.

 

             Jason Renfrow

Newer buildings neither solve the problems of old courts nor the parliament. Problem in courts, is the lack of arguing time available to counsels, lesser time spent in interpretation of legal principles, fewer settling down the law through final judgments.
 
For the parliament, it is lack of quality debates, vanishing question answer sessions, lesser discussions on legislations. No amount of money spent in building constructions shall solve these problems.

 

The United Kingdom’s parliament building is about 900 years old. Repeatedly faced destruction due to fire in the year 1263 under King Henry III rule, again in 1298 and again 1512 and once again on 16 October 1834 in ‘tally-stack’ fire. Each time the destroyed part was rebuilt and repaired. They did not shift. They innovated every time.

 
India’s Parliament House was opened in 1927, we could not use it even for 100 years. The building in which the High Court of Uttarakhand was established only in the year 2000, was built by the British in the year 1900, now we are being told that its no more good for the court ! Both the buildings were built by the British rulers and are still holding their ground with strength. 

May be the problem lies, not in the buildings but in the ideas housed inside those buildings! Are we shifting due to lack of space or lack of innovation?
 
Supreme Court of India, Rashtrapati Bhawan, North Block, South Block, Lutyens Bungalow Zone and many more were constructed around the same time, all are facing the severest of the space problems in  one of the most unaffordable city in the country in terms of real estate, but they are still being used well. They are neither shifting nor relocating!
 
Why did we commission new building structures to solve the problem of dying debates and discussions, which were the very reason of the existence of the institutions of courts and parliaments ? 

It shall remain the question for the posterity to judge!

Kartikey