New Delhi, Jul 4 (IANS): The government has cleared the construction of an additional office complex for the Supreme Court on a 12.19-acre land here at a cost of Rs.884.3 crore ($162.5 million).

The office complex will come up on the land adjacent to Pragati Maidan, the capital's most popular trade exposition and exhibition venue.

"The union cabinet has approved the project for the construction of additional office complex for the Supreme Court of India on 12.19 acres of land adjoining Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, at an estimated cost of Rs.884.30 crore," Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who briefed the media on the cabinet decisions, said here.

Reasoning out the decision to build the additional office complexes, Chidambaram said the holding capacity of the existing premises of the Supreme Court of India, located on Tilak Marg, New Delhi, has since long been saturated.

"Owing to expansion of work and staff strength in the Supreme Court, there has been a pressing need for more space to take care of non-judicial functions like library, offices, registry, storage of records, offices for lawyers, waiting and interaction area for litigants, and parking for vehicles," he said.

The additional office complex would be a green building with four-star GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) rating, a system for assessing eco-friendliness of building constructions in India.

The modern office complex would facilitate planned and segregated movement of various stake-holders and users such as the judiciary, litigants, court officials, lawyers, support and services, and multilevel underground parking.

An underpass will link the existing complex of the Supreme Court with the new complex.

At the same time, the office complex will help to ease congestion in the existing premises of the Supreme Court complex with the shifting of non-judicial functions to the proposed complex, Chidambaram added.