The Maharashtra government on Thursday informed the Bombay High Court that it has decided to allot 30.16 acres of land in Bandra for the construction of a new High Court building.
Advocate General (AG) Dr. Birendra Saraf told a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne that a formal government resolution (GR) to that effect will be issued soon.
The AG stated that a memorandum has been made with the public works department (PWD) to that effect.
The AG informed the bench that the land was currently designated for government housing and that it would take some time for the State to modify the reservation to one for a commercial complex.
Once that is completed, the State will issue the GR.
He further added that the land will be located in Bandra East and will contain central tribunals as well as lawyer chambers (8.9 acres) as well as the High Court building (21 acres), which will also house judge’s quarters.
A section of the land will be commercially developed for lawyer’s chambers, and the government will receive revenue from the same.
The division bench was considering a petition filed by one Ahmed Abdi seeking contempt of court against State government officials for failing to comply with a 2019 High Court judgment on land allotment.
He contended that the contempt petition had been standing for 6 years and that the State had taken no action.
The petitioner further claimed the State was in contempt of the order passed by the High Court in January 2019 in the public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by him in 2012 seeking a new building for the High Court on a priority basis.
The petitioner claimed that since the 2019 order, the State government has “totally failed and actively neglected” taking actions toward the order.
During the March 9 hearing, the Court asked the State to make a decision on the property allotment soon.
After hearing the matter, the division bench disposed of the contempt petition but allowed Abdi to file a new petition if the State takes no further action.
