Handover of land for new Bombay High Court building in Bandra to start by September: Supreme Court told

The Supreme Court was on Monday informed that the new building for the Bombay High Court would come up in Bandra itself as was planned earlier and that 4.39 acres of land in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) premises would be handed over by the State to the High Court for the said purpose by September 10 [In Re: Heritage Building of the Bombay High Court and Allotment of Additional Lands for the High Court]..A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices BR Gavai and JB Pardiwala was further told that the remaining 30.46 acres would also be handed over to the High Court within a prescribed time. This was decided after the High Court held a meeting in this regard with all stakeholders on July 9. "On July 8, there was an internal meeting headed by Chief Justice of High Court with the Judges Committee. On July 9 all stakeholders participated. We have been informed that by September 10 a contiguous area of 4.39 acre in BKC will be handed over to High Court by state govt. The State has indicated timeline to handover the balance area which measures 30.46 acres to the High Court as well," the apex court noted in its order of Monday..The Supreme Court was hearing a suo motu case based on a letter petition sent by the President of the Bombay Bar Association, Nitin Thakker, and others. This was after the High Court had suggested the State to explore the possibility of having the new building at Goregaon instead of Bandra. The Bombay High Court had in April asked the Maharashtra government to explore land availability at Goregaon for the new High Court complex and to provide a rough sketch of accessibility from the proposed coastal road.That development came about despite the considerable progress made to shift the new High Court building to Bandra.The Supreme Court then took up the suo motu case concerning the issue.The top court in May directed the Maharashtra government to release the first tranche of land necessary to construct the new Bombay High Court building.It emphasised that the State need not wait until December 2024 to hand over the entire 9.64 acres of land earmarked for the project..During the hearing on May 7, the Court also remarked that Goregaon was not a convenient location for the proposed new High Court complex and ordered expedited action towards relocation of the current complex to Bandra. Pursuant to these directions by the top court, the High Court committee and State held meeting before proposing to go ahead with the Bandra plan.The top court was also noted that the State has suggested names of eight architects who would be given opportunity to showcase their design for the building after which expression of interest would be called for. "State has suggested the names of 8 architects who would be given opportunity to showcase their work and thereafter expressions of interest will be called," the order said.Further, Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) has also vacated the premises which was leased out from Bank of India to state, the Court observed. "The documents of MPSC will be removed by end of July. MPSC premises will be handed over immediately and suitable repair work will be done so as to facilitate occupation by the high court. A leave and license has been executed between MTNL and High Court," the Court stated.It proceeded to direct the Public Works Department (PWD) to submit an estimate to the High Court. "The High Court Chief Justice would be at liberty to convene meeting and see that due monitoring of the project happens by the judges committee," the Court added.The matter will be heard next on August 22.