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Bombay High Court
 
 
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Bombay High Court was inaugurated on 14 August 1862. Although the name of the city was changed from Bombay to Mumbai
Mumbai

Mumbai— formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper has approximately 14 million people and, along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, Mumbai forms the World's largest urban agglomerations according to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects report with around 19...
 in 1995, the Court as an institution did not follow suit and remained as the Bombay High Court. 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
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 engineer Col.






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History & Premises

The Bombay High Court was inaugurated on 14 August 1862. Although the name of the city was changed from Bombay to Mumbai
Mumbai

Mumbai— formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper has approximately 14 million people and, along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, Mumbai forms the World's largest urban agglomerations according to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects report with around 19...
 in 1995, the Court as an institution did not follow suit and remained as the Bombay High Court. 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
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 engineer Col. J.A. Fuller. The first sitting in this building was on January 10, 1879. Architecture: Gothic revival
Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an Architectural style which began in the 1740s in England. Its popularity grew rapidly in the early nineteenth century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive Middle Ages forms in contrast to the Neoclassical architecture styles which were then prevalent....
 in the Early English style. It is long and wide. To the west of the central tower are two octagonal towers. The statues of Justice and Mercy are atop this building.The 125th anniversary of the building is slated to be marked by the release of a book, commissioned by the Bar Association, called "The Bombay High Court: The Story of the Building - 1878–2003" by local historians Rahul Mehrotra and Sharada Dwivedi
Sharada Dwivedi

Sharada Dwivedi is a Mumbai-based historian and researcher. She has authored several books on the history and culture of Mumbai . She is also on the panel on the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee....
.

Judges

Sanctioned strength: 60. A petition is pending to increase the number to 75 judges. The court handles 3.4 lakh
Lakh

A lakh is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to 100000 . It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan, and is often used in Indian English....
 cases, both civil and criminal. 32 sitting judges of the court disposed around 2,000 cases each in 2004. The court has a ratio of 1:1.61 million judges to people. Recently 8 new judges have elevated as High Court Judge. Justice Swatanter Kumar is the Chief Justice. Former CJ Justice H. S. Bedi
H. S. Bedi

Harjit Singh Bedi is a justice of the Supreme Court of India.Bedi comes from a family of agriculturists from Sahiwal , now in Pakistan. He is a descendant of Guru Nanak, being number 17 in the direct line....
 has been elevated to Supreme Court of India
Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the land as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India. According to the Constitution of India, the role of the Supreme Court is that of a federal court, guardian of the Constitution and the highest court of appeal....
. Hon'ble Justice S H Kapadia, Hon'ble Justice Sirpurkar have been elevated to the Supreme Court from Bombay High Court.

Jurisdiction & Benches

The court has jurisdiction over the states of Maharashtra
Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a States and territories of India located on the western coast of India. Maharashtra is a part of Western India. It is India's List of states of India by area and List of states of India by population....
, Goa
Goa

Goa is India's smallest states and territories of India in terms of area and the List of states and territories of India by population. Located on the west coast of India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western...
 and the Union territories
Union Territory

A Union Territory is a sub-national administrative division of India, in the Federal republic framework of governance. Unlike the States and territories of India, which have their own elected governments, union territories are ruled directly by the federal Government of India; the President of India appoints an Administrator of the Governmen...
 of Daman and Diu
Daman and Diu

Daman and Diu is a union territory in India.For over 450 years, these coastal enclaves on the Arabian Sea coast were part of Portuguese India, along with Goa and Dadra and Nagar Haveli....
 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Dadra and Nagar Haveli

Dadra and Nagar Haveli Dadra and Nagar Haveli are in the watershed of the Daman Ganga River, which flows through the territory. The towns of Dadra and Silvassa both lie on the north bank of the river....
. The court has benches in Nagpur
Nagpur

Nagpur is the largest city in central India and second capital of the States and territories of India of Maharashtra. It is headquarter of Nagpur district and Nagpur division and is third largest city by population of Maharashtra....
, Aurangabad
Aurangabad, Maharashtra

Aurangabad is a city in Maharashtra, India. The city is a tourist hub, surrounded with many historical monuments including the Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as well as Bibi Ka Maqbara....
 and Panaji
Panaji

Panaji is the capital of the Indian state of Goa. It lies on the banks of the Mandovi River estuary, in the district of North Goa. With a population of 65,000 , Panaji is Goa's third largest city after Vasco da Gama and Margao....
.

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 12 judges. The jurisdiction of the Aurangabad Bench is over Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Dhule, Jalna, Jalgaon, Beed, Parbhani, Latur & Osmanabad. Recently Hon'ble Justice S.C. Bora and Justice P.B.Varale are elevated as High Court Judge, from the Aurangabad bench. The bench also has a Bar council of Maharashtra & Goa office.The present building of bench is situated in a very huge premises.The HC bench at Aurangabad is just approximately 4 KM from the airport and around 6 km from central bus stand. The new building has 11 court halls and two more are under construction and will start functioning in few days. 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 700 advocates. The Aurangabad Bench celebrates its 27th aniversary on the 27th of August 2008.

HISTORY : The formation and establishment of the Bench was by way of an order dt.August 27, 1981 by which the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court - Sri.Venkatrao S. Deshpande, in exercise of his powers under Sub-section (3) of Section 51 of the States Reorganization Act, 1956 (Act XXXVII of 1956) with the prior approval of the Governor of Maharashtra. It was directed that the Judges and Division Courts of the High Court of Bombay shall also, sit at Aurangabad with effect from August 27, 1981 for the disposal of cases arising out of the Marathwada region of the State of Maharashtra.However, the relentless struggle of the lawyers from the Marathwada region and the efforts of the Social activists though had beared fruits by way of the Bench's formation, but the joy was shortlived.A case was filed in the Bombay High Court itself challenging the legal validity of the Chief Justice's action.The matter went upto the Supreme Court and a three judges Bench comprising of Justice Sen upheld the establishment of the Court.

Goa bench

When the High Court of Bombay constituted a bench in Goa, Justice G.F Couto was appointed its first Goan permanent judge. Later Justice G.D. Kamat was appointed as judge in 1983 and went on to become Chief Justice of Gujarat. Justice E.S da Silva was elevated in 1990 and had a 5 year term. Justice R.K. Batta was briefly a Judge in this bench. Presently Justice N.A. Britto is a permanent judge in Goa. Justice Ferdino Rebello, Justice R.M.S. Khandeparkar and Justice A.V Lavande, all sitting judges, were senior lawyers who practised in the Goa Bench before their elevation.

Case Information

bombayhighcourt.nic.in is the official website of the Bombay High Court. The case status and judgments of all cases after 2006 is available on the website. The causelist of Bombay High court can be accessed at http://bombayhighcourt.nic.in/netbd.php

See also

  • High Courts of India
    High Courts of India

    India's law in India is made up of the Supreme Court of India at the apex of the hierarchy for the entire country and twenty-one High Courts at the top of the hierarchy in each State....

External links