Court Design Handbook

Court Design Handbook for District Courts in India

The Design Handbook seeks to envision and implement a user-centric District Court Complex responsive to the needs of all diverse users, i.e., litigants, judges, lawyers, Court staff, witnesses, accused persons, police, public visitors and other stakeholders in the justice system. A principles-based framework is used to highlight associated guidelines and design considerations, for creating truly inclusive, accessible, efficient, comfortable, adaptable, and sustainable Courts where the experience of seeking and providing justice is significantly improved.

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Projects Authors And Acknowledgements

Shreya Tripathy is a Senior Resident Fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy working as part of the Justice, Access, and Lowering Delays in India (JALDI) Initiative. Priyamvadha Shivaji is a Research Fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy working as part of the Justice, Access, and Lowering Delays in India (JALDI) Initiative. Brinda Sastry is an architect, urban designer, and planner with experience in formulating policies, audit frameworks, and design guidelines, with a participatory approach, to ensure inclusive and equitable design of public places. Shreya Shetty is an architect and urban design consultant, Co-Founder of 369 Ochre Studio who assisted in drafting the Harmonised Guidelines & Standards for Universal Accessibility in India 2021, drafted by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) & Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee released by Central Public Works Department, Government of India under Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Bhagyalaxmi Madapur , Co-Founder of 369 Ochre Studio in Bengaluru, India, is an architect and urbanist who worked as a contract consultant with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on the project "Sponge City: Towards Building Flood Resilient Kolkata," which involved creating educational materials-infographic handbooks, videos, and brochures aimed at strengthening the capacity of Kolkata Municipal Corporation for resilient urban services. Abubakar Shaikh is an architect and Art Lead at Autovrse. Gayatri Ganesh is an architect and Experience Designer at Autovrse. Milind D.P. is the Executive Vice President, Consultancy & Projects, BNA Technology Consulting Ltd. His division is focused on IT Infrastructure Design, Project Management and Monitoring of ICT Projects. Arun Kumar is an acoustic consultant at HMPL Consulting Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, with over 8 years of expertise in Architectural, Environmental, and Industrial Acoustics, dedicated to shaping sound environments for optimal experiences. Akshatha Hariharan is an architect exploring the realms of Visual & User experience design. Rama Raghavan is an Architectural writer and researcher based in Pune. As a pedagogue, she has curated courses in Accessibility and Universal Design. She has worked on several publications that intricately connect the built environment with socio-spatial dimensions. This report has been in the making for over two years and owes a great deal to the inputs provided by a multitude of people. The authors would like to thank the following: Deepika Kinhal (Team Lead, JALDI) for her guidance throughout the project and for reviewing the report. The authors are also grateful to Reshma Sekhar (Former Senior Resident Fellow, JALDI) for her contribution to the conceptualisation of the Handbook. Dr. Gaurav Raheja (Professor of Architecture, IIT Roorkee) and Dr. Rahela Korakhiwala (Author, From the Colonial to the Contemporary: Images, Iconography, Memories, and Performances of Law in India's High Courts) for their guidance in the conceptualisation stage. Justice Badar Durrez Ahmad (Former Chief Justice, Jammu & Kashmir High Court), Justice Ponugoti Naveen Rao (Former Acting Chief Justice, Telangana High Court) and Mr. Suresh Kogilgere (Former Registrar, Karnataka High Court) for their inputs for the project. Dr. Tanya Machado (Professor of Clinical Psychology (Rtd). Consultant Clinical Psychologist) and Dr. Ria Fernandez (Rehabilitation Specialist, Mazumdar Shaw Hospital) for their inputs on child-friendly design and providing trauma-informed design considerations for vulnerable witnesses. Akhilesh (Project Second Chance) for his inputs on safe, secure, and humane design considerations for accused persons. Nilesh Singit (independent accessibility expert) and Dr. Sanjay Jain (Professor at National Law School of India University, Bengaluru), members of the Supreme Court Committee on Accessibility, for their inputs on ensuring universal accessibility. Alok Prasanna Kumar (Co-founder and Team Lead, Vidhi Karnataka), and Vidhi Fellows Manmayi Sharma (Senior Resident Fellow, Disability Inclusion & Access), Yashaswini Basu (Outreach Lead, Nyaaya), Yogini Oke (Impact and Partnerships Fellow), Shireen Yachu (Communications Fellow, Impact Collective) and Somya Jain (Research Fellow, Disability Inclusion & Access) for their inputs on the project. Damini Ghosh (Team Lead, Disability, Inclusion & Access at Vidhi) and Prof. Sanjay Kanvinde (Senior Partner, Kanvinde Rai & Chowdhury) for peer-reviewing the Handbook and providing their invaluable feedback. Over the months of February and March 2024, four round-table consultations were held with experts from various fields, on the following themes covered in the Handbook: Institutional capacity building; Making District Courts safe, secure and comfortable; Incorporating Universal Design Principles; and Facilitating efficient and future-ready Court Complexes. The authors would like to thank the following participants for their inputs during the sessions: Justice (retd.) Ponugoti Naveen Rao (former acting Chief Justice at Telangana High Court), Prof. Jyoti Dogra (Professor at Indian Law Institute), Dr. Sheila Ramaswamy (Technical & Operational Lead at NIMHANS), Ms. Arushi Anthwal (Legal Counsel at Counsel to Secure Justice), Ms. Kushi Kushalappa (Director, Support & Rehabilitation at Enfold India), Ms. Shirisha Reddy (Program Manager at Nyaaya Kannada), Mr. Amar Jain (co-founder at Mission Accessibility), Ms. Anita Iyer Narayan (Managing Trustee, sponsor and volunteer at Ekansh Trust), Prof. Gaurav Raheja (Professor Incharge, Inclusion & Accessibility Services at IIT Roorkee), Ms. Nivedita Krishna (founder-director at PACTA), Ms. Pooja Sastry (PhD candidate in architectural history at University College, Dublin), Ms. Shruti Dixit (practising lawyer in Lucknow), Mr. Akshay Jain (Assistant Program Manager at National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People), Mr. Rahul Bajaj (co-founder at Mission Accessibility) and Mr. R. Sri Kumar (former Head of Police Force in Karnataka and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner). The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy is an independent think-tank doing legal research to make better laws and improve governance for the public good. The JALDI Initiative is a multi-year initiative that aims to advocate for and implement evidence-based reforms to eliminate the existing backlog in Courts and ensure that cases are disposed within reasonable timelines. This report is under the aegis of JALDI Innovation Lab, a multi-disciplinary collaborative of experts to design solutions for the justice delivery systems in India. Errors, if any, rest with the authors. Contact us at jaldi@vidhilegalpolicy.in

Sub Project Title

Design Guide for User-Centric Court Complexes

design

law

Jaldi Lab Aspect Title

Design

Design

Design-thinking and architecture to transform how accessing justice looks and feels

Jaldi Lab Aspect Title

Law

Law

Rules and policies to guide implementation of reforms in a fair, just and transparent manner.

Introducing the Court Design Handbook

Introducing the Court Design Handbook

Court Design Handbook: Reimagining Courts that meet the needs of all users

Court Design Handbook: Reimagining Courts that meet the needs of all users

Designing Justice: Introducing JALDI's New Video Series

Designing Justice: Introducing JALDI's New Video Series

Designing Justice: Interview with Anchal Bhateja

Designing Justice: Interview with Anchal Bhateja

Introduction to the series

Introduction to the series

How can we improve e-Filing in courts?

How can we improve e-Filing in courts?

nearest

smooth

NCMS (2012).

Director General of Central Public Works Department,

A handbook of planning of office buildings (2013)

pp. 29-30 [“Office Buildings Handbook”]

Office Buildings Handbook, pp. 28-29.

Bureau of Indian Standards, ‘Requirements for Natural lighting and Ventilation’ in

National Building Code of India (2005)

pp. 40-43.

Office Buildings Handbook, pp. 30-34.

Objectives

Plan adequate space

within the Court Complex to accommodate all administrative offices, including maintenance and support facilities;

Ensure the

smooth functioning of judicial processes

, by planning the layout of the administrative wing such that related functions are placed next to or in proximity to each other;

Design spaces for

optimal use and to suit the specific functional requirements

of Court staff of each administrative section; and

Plan the layout of the office spaces to allow for a

comfortable, engaging, and efficient working environment.

Adjacencies

The Administrative Wing must be close to the separate staff entry from the ground level (See

Section 1.2

),and dedicated lifts and stairs,

along with an access control system as described in

Annexure 3

It may be located in a separate block connected to the Court Complex, or in a designated section or floor of the Court Complex.

There must be convenient and direct circulation between all administrative offices which are connected, a representative example of which is shown below in

Figure 49

Accessible designated washrooms, including family-friendly and gender-neutral washrooms, must be located within or close to the Administrative Wing.

Design Considerations for All Office Spaces

The required square footage for each of the Administrative office spaces must be determined based on the number of staff required to use that space, and the functions of each space. The space should be planned to prevent overcrowding so as to facilitate an unhindered workflow.

The layout must be planned to optimise the flow of people, documents, and information.

Ramps, elevators, and other assistive devices must be installed to accommodate the needs of all staff and visitors.

As detailed in

, robust security measures must be implemented to control access and maintain safety of Court staff, visitors, and sensitive information where required.

In cases where certain administrative offices are required to have restricted access, such rooms must be access controlled with RFID/Access control systems, with a manual punch number override.

Proper sound insulation must be implemented with the use of acoustically treated materials to minimise disturbances between adjacent spaces.

Special consideration must be given to noise control in open office settings, with absorptive finish materials and sufficient separation between individual occupants.

Acoustically absorptive workstation screens must be provided to ensure additional privacy.

All noise sources (eg: ventilation systems, office equipment, and water coolers) must not exceed 40 dBA.

Court management systems, audio-visual equipment, digital document storage, and IT infrastructure (including Internet access, Local Area Networks (LAN)/Wide Area Networks (WAN)/Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and other voice, cable or data systems) must be provided throughout the administrative wing.

Where necessary, floors may be raised to allow for easy access to cabling and power distribution, with due consideration for levelled flooring, with a threshold not more than

20 mm

Features such as plug-and-play floor boxes for power, data, voice and fibre, modular and harnessed wiring and buses, and conferencing hubs may be considered to allow for daily flexibility at work, as well as future reorganisation of office workstations.

Ergonomic and functional furniture must be provided, with comfortable seating arrangements.

Ample storage space must be provided for official files (compact storage may be used where necessary) and other documents as well as personal belongings of Court staff.

Natural light must be maximised to ensure that the health and psychological well-being of the Court staff is maintained. A minimum of 100-150 LUX of diffused indirect natural light is desirable for each

space.

For the interiors of each space, materials/paint with light-colour shades may be preferred, to minimise heat gain and control glare.

Fine window screens that reduce illumination and glare while allowing contact with the view, or screens or louvers that operate upward from the window sill, may be used.

PART C - THE HANDBOOK

ORGANIZATION AND DESIGN OF SPACES OF THE COURT COMPLEX

2.5.

Administrative Wing

Court staff comprise an integral part of the judicial system. Various administrative functions are required to ensure that the system runs smoothly. A separate administrative wing is therefore required to house, inter alia, the Registrars and other administrative officers, officials working in the accounts section, computer section, copying section, process server section, vigilance officers, etc.

Some of these administrative offices have public-facing functions. For example, the filing section and pending branch of the Courtrooms must be open for the use of Advocates and litigants, in addition to Court staff assigned to these sections. On the other hand, some administrative offices are private. For example, the Record Room may only be accessed with the relevant permissions having been obtained.

Figure 49: Representative example of adjacencies between offices in the Administrative Wing

References

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