The Maharashtra government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it will hand over the next tranche of land by December for construction of the Bombay High Court’s new building complex in Mumbai’s Bandra region.
The state government also informed a special bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices B R Gavai and JB Pardiwala that so far it has not received the possession of the Air India building in south Mumbai where the mediation centre of the Bombay High Court is proposed to be shifted.
The state government said possession of 30.16 acre of land will be handed over to the high court in a phased manner, adding the first tranche measuring 4.39 acres has already been given.
Next tranche of land will be made available by December, Birendra Saraf, Advocate General of the state government, told the bench.
The law officer also said a judges committee headed by the chief justice of the Bombay High Court has fixed the next meeting with state officials on November 12-13 to deal with issues.
He said the expression of interest is also received for the building project and a project meeting consultant is being recruited.
On repairs of PWD building, he said a structural audit has to be carried out.
The bench took note of his submissions and asked the state government to file a fresh status report and fixed the plea for hearing in the first week of January next year.
The bench was hearing a suo motu (on its own) case titled as 'Heritage Building of the Bombay High Court and allotment of additional lands for the High Court'.
The Bombay High Court, founded on August 16, 1862, is currently located in a majestic building near Flora Fountain (Hutatma Chowk) that the court has occupied since November 1878.
Keeping in mind safety concerns and the need for more space, a new high court complex is proposed at Bandra.
On September 25, the top court had asked the state chief secretary to hold a meeting with the chief justice of the high court and other judges for taking a decision on re-development of a PWD and annexe buildings adjacent to the present iconic high court building in Mumbai for shifting some courtrooms and other facilities there.
It had said till the time the new high court building comes up at Bandra, some of the facilities needed to be shifted to a PWD building adjacent to the present high court premises.
The bench was of the view that the annexe building of the high court, where some of the courts and other facilities are still there, needed urgent repairs as well.
The top court had also asked the state government to explore providing some space to the high court to set up its arbitration and mediation centre in the Air India building.
The CJI on September 23 laid the foundation stone of the Bombay High Court’s new complex.
The groundbreaking ceremony of the new high court building was attended by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, senior Supreme Court judges and the HC Chief Justice.
The new HC complex will have well-designed and spacious court rooms, chambers for judges and registry personnel, an arbitration and mediation centre, an auditorium, library, and a host of features and amenities for staff, lawyers and litigants.
The Bombay High Court exercises jurisdiction over Maharashtra through the principal seat in Mumbai and benches at Nagpur and Aurangabad as well as Goa. It also exercises jurisdiction over the Union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
The high court has a sanctioned strength of 94 judges, with the current strength being 66 sitting judges.
The top court had taken note of an April 29 letter petition of Bombay Bar Association president Nitin Thakker and other bar leaders with respect to the urgent need of accommodation for the high court of judicature at Bombay whose existing building is 150 years old.
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