The Maharashtra government has informed the Bombay High Court that government officials have completed a survey and demarcated a new plot of land on which the new High Court complex would be constructed at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).
The Advocate General of Maharashtra Birendra Saraf informed a division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor that the High Power Committee (HPC), comprising relevant stakeholders, met on the matter and has submitted a report.
The report said that a survey was conducted on September 15 following which land was demarcated in the presence of State officers and court officers.
Following these developments, the HPC will meet again on October 13, Saraf said.
Petition seeking a new building for the high court on a priority basis
The HC is hearing a contempt petition filed by Advocate Ahmad Abdi in 2012, seeking allotment of land to construct the new court complex. Abdi had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in 2012 seeking a new building for the high court on a priority basis.
In January 2019, the High Court had urged the State government to take a decision on the issue and offer a large and convenient plot of land for the construction of the new High Court complex. The HC had then disposed of the PIL.
However, since the order of 2019, the State government had not taken any steps toward the same. Abdi claimed that the State was in contempt of the high court's order.
On March 30 this year, Saraf told the Court that it had decided to allot 30.16 acres of land in Bandra for the construction of a new building.
Central tribunals, chambers for lawyers, and more
The land allotted at Bandra East is expected to have central tribunals as well as chambers for lawyers (8.9 acres) along with the High Court building (21 acres), which will also house judge's quarters. A portion of the land is slated to be commercially developed for lawyers' chambers and the government plans to receive revenue from the same.
Earlier, the advocate general had told the Court that the land had been reserved for government housing and that the State would require some time to change the reservation to one for a commercial complex. Once that is done, the State would issue a Government Resolution which would pave the way for the construction of the new court complex, it was added.
The HC has kept the PIL for hearing on December 7.
