India, Jan. 4 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court in Chandigarh, which serves the states of Punjab and Haryana along with the union territory of Chandigarh, has once again found itself contemplating its own limits. Last week, the court issued fresh timelines and directions to advance the long pending expansion of its campus, responding to chronic space shortages and a steadily rising caseload. For millions of litigants across northern India, the concern is practical rather than poetic: access, efficiency and the pace at which justice moves.

In Chandigarh, however, space is rarely just a logistical problem. The proposed expansion sits at the intersection of constitutional responsibility, heritage preservation and administrative decision ...