Mumbai: The Bombay High Court is on course to getting a new court complex in Mumbai.
The new court complex would be located in the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Bandra East.
As a first step, Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, the Chief Justice of India, will preside over the ceremony on Monday.
Other Justices of the Supreme Court -- Justice B R Gavai, Justice A S Oka, Justice Dipankar Datta, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Prasanna B Varale -- who have adorned the Bombay High Court, along with Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court would also attend the ceremony.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar would also be present.
The Bombay High Court, founded on August 16, 1862, is currently located at Flora Fountain, in a majestic building that the court has occupied since November 1878.
Seven years in the making when it was built, the high court building was originally designed for 10 judges in six court rooms, and seven judges occupied it.
The Bombay High Court is in need of better infrastructure that is commensurate with the new era.
The new court building is expected to be an architectural signature in the landscape of Mumbai.
Apart from infrastructure such as well designed and spacious court rooms and chambers for judges and registry personnel, arbitration and mediation centre, auditorium, library and the like, the plan is to also ensure availability of other features and amenities for various stakeholders including staff, lawyers and litigants.
The plan is to enable stakeholders to have access to support services such as banking and telecom, medical facilities, digitisation centre, crèche, cafeteria, waiting areas, multi-storey car park, museum and lawyers’ chambers. All the infrastructure will be designed keeping in mind accessibility features aimed at convenience of differently-abled stakeholders.
The land on which the new high court Complex would come up is well located, with strategic proximity to both the island city and the suburbs, the Western Express Highway, and the bustling international commercial hub of Bandra-Kurla Complex. Possession of the 30.16-acre land area is scheduled to be handed over to the high court in a phased manner. The first tranche of 4.39 acres of land has already been handed over.
The Bombay High Court exercises jurisdiction over the State of Maharashtra (through the principal seat in Mumbai and benches at Nagpur and Aurangabad) and the State of 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 of 66 sitting judges.