Land Will Be Hand Over To High Court By September 10: Maharashtra Advocate General Tells Apex Court About New Building For Bom HC

The Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra ordered, “In view of the above developments, we now direct the proceedings be listed before this court for the hearing on 22 August 2024. The Chief Justice of the High Court will be at liberty to convene the meetings and to ensure that monitoring of the project is held out continuously by the committee of the High Court.”

Advocate General of Maharashtra Dr. Birendra Saraf submitted that a detailed meeting had been held with the High Court and other departments, all the matters were taken into consideration and a part of the land at Bandra will be handed over in September.

CJI asked, “How big is that land?”

AG replied, “Approximately 4 acres.”

CJI then asked, “Is it in one pocket?”

AG said, “Yes, this is a contiguous land.”

CJI said, “When in September will this be handed over?”

AG replied, “Every effort is being made to hand over that part of the land prior to 10th of September… maybe at just a few days here or there but every effort is being made.”

CJI further asked, “What other decisions were taken in the meeting?”

AG answered, “So far as the Architects are concerned, the State has suggested the name of 8 architects and the last High Court has requested that each of those architects should make a presentation before the committee and thereafter we can call for an expression of interest from them.”

AG also submitted, “For each of the alternate premises, which are to be handed over, MPSC has also agreed to hand over the premises by month’s end.”

CJI asked, “Where is MPSC?”

AG informed, “In the Bank of India building.”

Justice Gavai said, “They have already shifted to the BSNL building, they have some records in the Bank of India Building.”

AG replied, “Those records they are identifying and they have committed to vacate and remove the records by the month’s end… Whatever HC requires will be given immediately, approved and sanctioned....work will be done. Please take it from us. There will be no delay.”

CJI then asked, “Is there anything else, notably, which we need to be informed about?”

Registrar General of the Bombay High Court informed the Bench, “There were two meetings, 8th of July was the in-house meeting of the committee of BKC and 9th of July was with all the stakeholders, including the Government of research.”

Senior Advocate Nitin Thakker for Bombay Bar requested, “May I request in future bar associations be also be taken in confidence when holding a meeting of stakeholders.”

AG said, “I leave it entirely to you (Bench) as to who can attend the meeting...because most of these are administrative matters and administrative things are being discussed.”

CJI replied, “The Chief Justice (Bombay HC) will decide.”

The AG has also stated that copies of the plan will be given to the Presidents of the Bombay Bar Associations.

The Supreme Court previously had directed the Government of Maharashtra to release the first tranche of land for the construction of the new Bombay High Court Building in the BKC by September this year and also directed to expedite the process of finalizing the architectural design for the proposed new High Court building in BKC.

Cause Title: In Re: Heritage Building Of The Bombay High Court And Allotment Of Additional Lands For The High Court(SMW(C) No. 5/2024)