Bombay High Court

Bombay High Court Visit

Introduction to the court The High Court of Bombay, which is the chartered High Court and one of the oldest High Courts in the Country. It has Appellate Jurisdiction over the State of Maharashtra, Goa, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli. In addition to the Principal Seat at Bombay, it has benches at Aurangabad, Nagpur, Panaji (Goa). The Legal history of Bombay may be said to have begun in 1661, when it became a British possession. The Town and Island of Bombay was received by the British as a part of the dowry of the Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza, sister of Alphonso VI, the then Portuguese Monarch, when she married King Charles II . Bombay then was little more than a small fishing village consisting of a few straggling huts of Kolis, its indigenous inhabitants; and its harbour, destined in the course of years to develop into the greatest and most important commercial seaport in the East, sheltered only a few fishing boats. Charles II transferred it to the East India Company in 1668 for an insignificant annual rent of 10 Pounds Bombay High Court​ is one of the oldest India. It is located in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Its jurisdiction covers the ​states​ of ​Maharashtra​ and ​Goa​, and the ​Union Territories​ of ​Daman and Diu​ and ​Dadra and Nagar Haveli​. The High Court has regional branches at ​Nagpur​ and ​Aurangabad​ in Maharashtra and ​Panaji​, the capital of Goa.​[1] The first ​Chief Justice​, the ​Attorney General​ and ​Solicitor General​ of ​Independent India​ were from this court. Since ​India's Independence​, 22 judges from this court have been elevated to the ​Supreme Court​ and 8 of them have been Chief Justice of India.​[2]

The court has ​Original Jurisdiction​ in addition to its ​Appellate​. The decisions of this court can be appealed ​only​ to the ​Supreme Court of India​. The Bombay High Court has a sanctioned strength of 94 judges (71 permanent, 23 additional). The building is part of ​The Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai​, which was added to the list of ​World Heritage Sites​ in 2018. 1

History and premises

The Bombay High Court was one of the three High Courts in India established at the Presidency Towns by ​Letters patent​ granted by ​Queen Victoria​, bearing date June 26, 1862. It was inaugurated on August 14, 1862 under the ​High Courts Act, 1861​.

Bombay High Court, Fort, Mumbai

The work on the present building of the High Court was commenced in April 1871 and completed in November 1878. It was designed by British engineer Col. ​James A. Fuller​. The first sitting in this building was on 10 January 1879. Justice ​M. C. Chagla​ was the first Indian permanent Chief Justice of Bombay High Court after independence [1948 1958]​[4]​ Architecture: ​Gothic revival​ in the ​Early English​ style. It is 562 feet (171 m) long and 187 feet (57 m) wide. To the west of the central tower are two octagonal towers. The statues of Justice and Mercy are atop this building.

Name of the court Although the name of the city was changed from ​Bombay​ to ​Mumbai​ in 1995, the Court as an institution did not follow suit and retained the name Bombay High Court. Although, a bill​[5]​ to rename it as ​Mumbai High Court​ was approved by the Cabinet on July 5, 2016 along with the change of name of the ​Calcutta High Court​ and ​Madras High Court​ as ​Kolkata High Court​ and ​Chennai High Court​ respectively, the same is pending approval before the ​Parliament of India​ but may not be enacted for some time. 2

Principal seat and benches The court has jurisdiction over the states of ​Maharashtra​, ​Goa​ and the ​Union territories​ of ​Daman and Diu​ and ​Dadra and Nagar Haveli​. The court has benches in ​Nagpur​, ​Aurangabad​ and ​Panaji​. Bench

Judge Strength

Territorial jurisdiction

Bombay(Principal) 35

Mumbai (City), Mumbai (Suburban), Thane, Palghar, Kolhapur, Nashik, Pune, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Satara, Sangli, Sindhudurg, Solapur, Dadar & Nagar Haveli at Silvassa, Daman, Diu.

Aurangabad

18

Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Beed, Dhule, Jalna, Jalgaon, Latur, Nanded, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Nandurbar

Nagpur

17

Nagpur, Akola, Amravati, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Wardha, Yavatmal, Gondia, Gadchiroli, Washim

Panaji

04

North Goa (Panaji), South Goa (Margao)

Total

74

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Nagpur bench Nagpur​ is an industrial and commercial city situated in the centre of India. Formerly, it was the capital of the former State of ​CP & Berar​, later old ​Madhya Pradesh​ and now it is the sub-capital of the State of ​Maharashtra​. A full-fledged High Court was established at Nagpur on 9 January 1936. Later it was included as a separate bench in the Bombay High Court jurisdiction after the formation of the state of Maharashtra in 1960.

Aurangabad bench The ​Aurangabad​ bench was established in 1982. Initially only a few districts of ​Maharashtra​ were under the Aurangabad bench. Subsequently, in 1988, ​Ahmednagar​ & others districts were attached to the bench. The bench at ​Aurangabad​ has more than 13 judges. The jurisdiction of the Aurangabad Bench is over ​Aurangabad​, ​Ahmednagar​, ​Dhule​, ​Jalna​, ​Jalgaon​, ​Beed​, ​Parbhani​, ​Latur​ & ​Osmanab ad​. The bench also has a Bar council of ​Maharashtra​ & ​Goa​ office. The present building of bench is situated in huge premises. The garden is beautifully maintained. Lush green grass invites the attention of any passerby. The HC bench at Aurangabad is just approximately 4 km from the ​Aurangabad Airport​ and around 6 km from central bus stand. The new building has 13 court halls in all now including two new. All the court halls are on the first floor of the building, while the registry of the Court is on the ground floor. The Aurangabad bench has a strong Bar of more than 1000 advocates, but Aurangabad bench does not have a jurisdiction for company law matters. The Aurangabad Bench celebrated its 28th anniversary on 27 August 2009.

Panaji bench When the High Court of Bombay constituted a bench in Goa, Justice G.F Couto was appointed its first Goan permanent judge. Justice G.D. Kamat was appointed as judge in 1983 and later in 1996 as Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court. Justice E.S da Silva was elevated in 1990 and was a judge of this court till his retirement in 1995. Justice F.I Rebello, was appointed Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court in 2010 and retired in 2011. Justice R.K. Batta and Justice R.M.S. Khandeparkar were Judges of the Goa bench 4

for a brief period. Justice A.P Lavande, Justice F.M.Reis, and Justice M.S. Sonak, were senior lawyers who practiced in the Goa Bench before their elevation. Presently Goa has two lady judges, Justice Anuja Prabhudesai and Justice Nutan Sardesai who were both District Judges.

Institution of Justice

With around 75 judges in the court, the Bombay High Court handles lakhs of civil and criminal cases. Honorable Mr. Justice Mohit S. Shah is the present Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. Among all the prominent Chief Justices of Bombay High Court, Honorable Justice S.B. Bhasme is considered to have had a highly reputable tenure. He resigned from the high court in 1979 to move over to the Supreme Court. His judgments solved matters which largely affected the public good. History & Architecture As per the 'Indian High Court Act' of 1861 passed by the Queen of England under the great seal of the United Kingdom, the High Courts of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were set up. Bombay High Court came into being on 14 August 1862 and the present building was designed by a British engineer, Col. J.A. Fuller. The structure follows a Gothic revival architecture dating back to the early English style. Although the name of the city changed from Bombay to Mumbai in 1996, the name of the High court remained the same i.e., 'The Bombay High Court'. This beautiful structure built with black stone is one of the oldest and biggest courts in Western India and has benches in Panaji, Aurangabad and Nagpur. Along the west of the central tower, there are two octagonal towers and statues of 'Justice' and 'Mercy' on the top of this building which serve as a source of inspiration for law abiding citizens. Anniversary Celebrations In 2012, several programs were organized in the High Court to mark the completion of 150 years of its establishment. With regard to this, a special postal cover was inaugurated and released by Shri Milind Deora, the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, on 14 August 2012 at the Central Court Hall in the court's main building. Also, an exhibition of important documents, artifacts and historical articles was held and inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Prithviraj Chavan. 5

Bombay High Curt is associated with not only the history of the city, but also with the history of India. Try visiting this historical structure if you ever plan to visit Mumbai.

Personal Observation Out of the all lower court working in Mumbai, the structure & formation of Bombay High Court is beautiful & well maintain, the judges here is most senior and well experience to handle cases, Bombay High Court is one of the highest court which discussion is mandatory to following by all lower court, all the court room is fully air-conditioner, clean and neat. the work lord in the court are divided equally between various department , the Bombay High court handling all matter of civil , criminal and the constitutional . Website of the court is fully updated with all latest order, case details & judges arrangement, one can have all the details regarding matters from website itself.

Sources

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Wikipedia Bombay High court official site Books Internet Personal visit

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