CHANDIGARH — The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday pressed the Chandigarh administration to explain its failure to provide temporary relief at the Sector 26 vegetable and fruit market, notorious for filth and congestion, with Chief Justice Sheel Nagu expressing outrage, according to details received by The Chenab Times.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry questioned why no practical arrangements had been made for vendors and consumers amid ongoing litigation over the market’s proposed shift to Sector 39. “Have you seen the muck that is there? You cannot even step into that market,” Chief Justice Nagu remarked, as reported by the Indian Express, after the UT counsel cited a Supreme Court stay on the e-auction process in April 2025.
The court stressed that the stay did not absolve the administration of maintaining hygiene. “It may have been stayed, but that does not prevent you from making some temporary arrangement for the general public at large,” Nagu said.
UT counsel Aman Pal and Mahima Dogra attributed sanitation to a third-party contractor appointed by the marketing committee, which had issued penalties and notices for lapses. They noted demolitions of illegal structures in August and engagement of new security and cleaning agencies. However, the bench demanded photographs of improvements, which the counsel could not provide, prompting Nagu to ask, “Have you laid pavers or something so that people can walk in and out without slush during the monsoon?”
The bench directed the UT to submit photos and records by Friday showing ground-level improvements. The market’s relocation, debated since 2008 due to congestion, faces legal hurdles after vendors’ injunctions and a Supreme Court stay, despite a July 30 High Court order urging better management.
The Chenab Times News Desk