CHANDIGARH, June 3: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation to provide a temporary water connection within three working days to the Advanced Neurosciences Centre at PGIMER, paving the way for the long-completed facility to finally open its doors.
The court’s intervention comes after it was informed that the 300-bed centre — including a 36-bed neurosurgery ICU — has remained non-operational since its completion in September 2024 due to the lack of a water supply.
Representing PGIMER, senior advocate Chetan Mittal, along with counsels Udit Garg and Shashank Shekhar, submitted that the centre was fully staffed and equipped, but had been unable to commence operations due to pending approvals — including fire safety, occupation and completion certificates — all contingent on the water connection.
The Municipal Corporation had withheld the connection citing a billing dispute with Deepak Builders, the contractor responsible for construction. It insisted on a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the contractor before issuing any permissions.
In a related petition, Deepak Builders argued that the billing issue had already been referred to the Dispute Redressal Committee in an earlier case and was still under review. The contractor also flagged a second dispute regarding a separate project — a 150-bed critical care block at PGIMER — where a tertiary water connection is needed for construction and green certification.
After reviewing submissions and documentation, the Bench ruled that all pending issues be processed in a time-bound manner. It directed the Municipal Corporation to grant the temporary connection to the Neurosciences Centre within three working days.
Additionally, the court ordered the contractor to furnish a bank guarantee amounting to one-third of the sum claimed by the MC. This, the Bench said, would allow the Dispute Redressal Committee to examine the matter without further delaying the public healthcare facility’s functioning.
