New Delhi, March 12 (IANS): The Delhi High Court Wednesday observed that impediments in setting up forensic laboratories "cannot come in the way of criminal investigation", and directed the city government to search for buildings where such labs can be established immediately.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul said each zone in the capital should have a forensic lab.

The court sought a status report within three weeks from the Delhi government on availability of buildings to set up temporary forensic labs till the time it comes up with permanent labs.

When the court was told by advocate Zubeda Begum, appearing for the Delhi government, that the city was depending upon a single forensic lab at Rohini, it said: "This is inadequate for purpose of criminal investigation."

The court refused to accept the submission of the government that the process of setting up of forensic labs has been delayed on the ground of non-allotment of land by the Delhi Development Authority.

The bench said land can always be hired and a "temporary lab could be set up to cater to the needs of the city".

The court was hearing a suo motu cognizance taken by it after the Dec 16, 2012 gang rape on monitoring law and order, forensic labs and condition of hospitals in the city.

Earlier, the Delhi government had told the court that the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) at Rohini was the only state-run lab in the city and it has decided to set up three more labs to deal with the large number of pending cases.