SC asks govt to hand over land for Bombay High Court building by Sept 7

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Maharashtra government to issue an order by September 7 for handing over the land at BandraKurla complex to the Bombay High Court for construction of its new buildingThe top court hearing a suo motu case titled as Heritage Building of the Bombay High Court and allotment of additional lands for the High Court also directed the state government to pass another order to declare the high court buildings project as vital to ensure that it does not get affected due to enforcement of the model code of conduct for assembly polls in MaharashtraA special bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices B R Gavai and J B Pardiwala also asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre to coordinate with the chairperson of the Bank of India with regard to handing over the possession of certain portion of a building in Mumbai for shifting few facilities of the high court thereAt the outset of the proceedings the bench asked about the progress made so far in the caseAdvocate General of Maharashtra Birendra Saraf said that there was significant progress and the state government was taking steps to hand over possession of land to the high court and the first phase will be over by September 10The bench said so far as the alternate premises at CPO complex and Bank of India building are concerned the repair work has to be expedited so that the high court can use these facilitiesThe solicitor general said the Centre would be giving all support promptlyThe bench said once possession of the alternative premises is handed over to the high court the government should expeditiously release funds to ensure that the premises are modified as per the needsEarlier on July 15 the state government had said that it would hand over 439 acres of land to the high court for construction of a new building by September 10The top court under its suo motu on its own jurisdiction had taken note of an April 29 letter petition of Bombay Bar Association president Nitin Thakker and other bar leaders with respect to the urgent need of accommodation for the High Court of judicature at Bombay whose existing building is 150 years oldThe bench was also told that the remaining 3046 acres would also be handed over to the high court within a prescribed timeOn July 8 2024 an internal meeting was convened by the Chief Justice of the High Court with the Judges Committee monitoring the construction of the new premises On July 9 2024 another meeting was held in which all stakeholders including government officials participatedWe have been informed that by September 10 2024 a contiguous area of 439 acres in BandraKurla complex will be handed over to the high court by the state government The state has indicated a timeline to hand over the balance area in phases which measures 3016 acres to the high court as well the bench had saidThe top court noted that the Maharashtra government has shortlisted eight architects for finalising the design planning and directed that a meeting shall be convened with these architects to apprise them of the requirements of the high court after which they will make a presentation to the state governmentIt was earlier informed that the high court has approved the proposal of the Maharashtra government for a land at Bandra East in Mumbai but some portion of the land was being occupied by government housing coloniesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever