GUJRAT: The western portion of the 150-year-old building locally known as the Gol Adalat (round court) is being demolished in the old Kutchery compound to make way for building chambers for lawyers.

According to details, three different courts, including the drugs court and the civil courts, have recently been shifted from that old building to the main judicial compound along the Court Road.

Official sources said that the historical building was being demolished to build a double-storey building for chambers and young lawyers would be allotted offices there.

As per senior officials of the land revenue department, the portion under demolition, had once been the part of the deputy commissioner offices in the British-era.

They said that the first British DC EC Baley was posted in Gujrat on March 31, 1849, when the city was given the status of a district and the building of the then DC office was built afterwards. As per some local historians, the old DC office building was constructed in 1872.

Some citizens have expressed concern over the demolition of the 150-year-old historical building and said that such buildings were usually preserved instead of being demolished.

When contacted, Gujrat District Bar Association (DBA) President Muneer Gondal confirmed that the bar would build a new double-storey building at the site for chambers. He said that a large number of young lawyers did not have their chambers in the vicinity.

He said that all courtrooms were now within the judicial compound where some new courtrooms would also be built by the government as per requirements.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2025