LAHORE (Muhammad Ashfaq) - Lahore High Court Chief Justice Aalia Neelum, will lay the foundation stone of the Judicial Tower Phase-I project on May 8, an initiative to house all district courts under one roof.
The Judicial Tower will be a 17-storey building, featuring three basement levels dedicated to parking. The complex will include courtrooms, administrative offices, lawyers’ chambers, an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) centre, and a multi-storey parking plaza.
Under the plan, approximately 200 courts — including sessions, civil, family, and criminal courts currently scattered across Lahore — will be gradually relocated to the new facility. Authorities say the move will help streamline judicial operations, reduce delays in case hearings, and ease difficulties faced by litigants and lawyers.
The building will be divided into multiple functional blocks, including court blocks, administrative sections, dedicated lawyers’ areas, record rooms, modern archives, security control rooms, and waiting areas for litigants. The project will also incorporate modern elevators, a digital case management system, and enhanced security arrangements.
To address persistent parking issues, the plan includes separate parking zones for lawyers, judges, and visitors, with capacity for hundreds of vehicles and motorcycles.
Officials estimate the cost of Phase-I at approximately Rs9.15 billion, with a completion timeline of two years. The first phase will be constructed on the site of the existing printing press. Upon completion, courts from Aiwan-e-Adl will be relocated to the new tower, after which Phase-II of the project will begin.
The project was initiated following directives from Chief Justice Neelum, who took office around two years ago, after repeated requests from bar associations to centralise court facilities.
The Chief Justice stated that the initiative would not only provide a state-of-the-art infrastructure for the judiciary but also facilitate the litigants and lawyers by bringing all courts under one roof.