The Week That Was: The Bombay High Court

With two holidays this week, the Bombay High Court only sat for three days in all, with Chief Justice Waghela on leave throughout the week. What this meant was that most of the action was in Justice Oka’s court, with a number of PIL’s coming up for hearing including one on the proposed shift of the High Court to Bandra..Here is a wrap up of all that happened this week..March 21, 2016 (Monday).A modified sitting list meant that matters continued to remain unheard as they were listed before the incorrect Bench. This was frequently observed in courtroom 15 presided by Justice Oka, more specifically in a PIL with respect to potholes in Mumbai, and one on gardens in the city..However, the Bench did hear a petition regarding the mangrove buffer zone in Airoli. Appearing for CIDCO, counsel GS Hedge argued that certain modifications were required given that flood gates over the holding ponds had been tampered with. Senior counsel Navroz Seervai appeared for the BEAG, briefed by Shreya Parikh, while senior counsel Milind Sathe appeared for the Reliance Group in a connected matter. The Union of India was represented by Rui Rodrigues. The court eventually directed that three matters be listed on April 21, including CIDCO’s notice of motion, for final hearing..March 22, 2016 (Tuesday).Another slow news day at the High Court with two matters being adjourned after a short hearing. The first involved Reliance Industries which was before Justices Dharmadhikari and Kulkarni where Justice Kulkarni recused himself from the case. The other dealt with a petition filed by ClearTrip against the possible arrest of their employees. Senior counsel V Sreedharan, briefed by PDS Legal, appeared for the travel portal with the matter adjourned after the government sought some more time for instructions..But there was one interesting development with Justice Dharmadhikari taking to task the court’s registry. In two matters, the judge passed orders on the functioning of the registry. In the first, the judge noted that the Registry must ensure that court records are maintained, and that files be easily located. In the second matter, the judge observed that there was a divergence in practices on the Appellate and Original side when it came to maintaining the records..March 23, 2016 (Wednesday).Probably the busiest day of the week, all the action was to be found in Justice Oka’s court. One of the matters which came up dealt with the lack of infrastructure for the disabled when it comes to the railway stations of Mumbai’s local trains. Appearing for the India Centre for Human Rights & Law, senior counsel Gayatri Singh pointed out that most stations did not have toilets, and the ones that did were locked. Singh also pointed out that the platforms had not been raised on the Central Railways despite an order of the Bombay High Court passed in 2014..Observing that the “only” way to ensure compliance was through contempt proceedings, Justice Oka sought the names and designations of the officials in charge of implementing the court’s orders. The matter will now be heard on April 28..The judge also heard two matters relating to judicial infrastructure, of which one was about the High Court itself..In a PIL on the possible shifting of the court to Bandra, little progress could be made with the government claiming that it would first get a detailed project report on the redevelopment of land in Bandra. Not too pleased with this, Justice Oka said that the government would have to take a decision quickly on the land that has to be allocated to the court and the various bar associations. The matter was subsequently adjourned to April 13..Another petition on courts was heard in connection with the Metropolitan Magistrates courts in Dadar. Filed by the MM Dadar Bar Association, the petition seeks the repair and maintenance of the courts. Appearing for the bar association, Jyoti Chavan said that only minor repairs had been made so far, and that the state of three courts (Courts 7, 13 and 29) were in particularly bad shape. The matter was subsequently adjourned after the court directed the Government Pleader to appear next week..The day also saw the release of the names of four new judges to the High Court who will be sworn-in tomorrow.