‘No Further Court Relocations’: Mumbai Lawyers Association Halts Hunger Strike after Chief Justice Assurance

A lawyers’ association in Mumbai has temporarily halted its chain hunger strike following assurances from the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court that no further relocation of courts from the main building at Fort will take place.

Members of the Bombay City Civil and Sessions Court Bar Association have been protesting the transfer of civil and sessions courts from the main Fort branch to Mazgaon. To date, eight courts have been relocated, while a total of 65 courts operate from the Fort branch.

The protesting members, engaged in a chain hunger strike for the past five days, met with Bombay High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya on Thursday to express their concerns.

The Chief Justice assured them that there would be no additional transfers of courts. A press note issued by the association stated that Justice Upadhyaya guaranteed that advocates would be consulted, and their concerns addressed before the construction of any court building, along with other issues related to infrastructure and the rights of advocates.

“In light of these positive developments and considering all the above discussion with the Bombay High Court Chief Justice, we have decided to postpone/adjourn our chain hunger strike,” said the association’s president, Ravi Jadhav, on Friday.

“In the extraordinary general body meeting of the association, it was decided that we will send our proposal and representation to the chief justice and the principal judge. If anything goes against the interest of advocates, we will again fight for justice,” he added.

The newly inaugurated 17-storey, centrally air-conditioned Mazgaon court building, designed to accommodate 21 magistrate courts and 21 city civil and sessions courts, has faced opposition from the bar association, particularly regarding the transfer of civil and sessions courts from the main building premises in Kala Ghoda.