The Week That Was: The Bombay High Court

This past week was significant for the Bombay High Court as it marks the penultimate week for Chief Justice DH Waghela. Waghela J, who was made Chief Justice in February this year, retires on August 10. Here is a wrap of all that happened in the Bombay High Court this week..Tuesday, August 2.New Bombay High Court complex to be “world class” says Acting AG.Some fresh data was placed before the division bench of Justices AS Oka and AA Sayed in the PIL seeking shifting of the High Court to larger premises. While the state has agreed to provide the requisite land for the same near the Bandra-Kurla complex, a clear demarcation is yet to be made..Appearing for the administrative side of the high court, AA Kumbhakoni submitted some compelling figures about the allotment made for the new complex of the Lucknow bench as well as the District court complex in Saket, New Delhi..The acting AG, Rohit Deo, submitted that once a presentation is given by the technical consultants appointed to conduct a survey, state will put a detailed plan in place..Oka J said that a detailed order will be passed once the state places all the findings of this survey on the record. The matter was adjourned to August 16..Wednesday, August 3.PIL challenges Section 39 of Criminal Procedure Code.A PIL has been filed by Yeshwant Shenoy seeking directions to the state police to ensure an FIR is registered in case of cognizable offences, also an acknowledgement of a complaint even if the offence is not cognizable. The petitioner also seeks Section 39 of the Crpc to be declared as unconstitutional as it chooses only certain specific offences without any “rational classification”. The petition also refers to the murder of Swapnil Sonwane..The petitioner alleges that due to the negligence shown by Navi Mumbai police in registering a complaint, the 15 year old lost his life as the family of the deceased had already approached police authorities before the incident. He seeks directions for an FIR to be registered. This matter was adjourned after the state government has been asked to file a reply..Thursday, August 4.“We will throw you out next time!”.Justice SC Dharmadhikari lost his temper while hearing the matter regarding the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and communist leader Govind Pansare. While Dabholkar’s case is being investigated by the CBI, Pansare’s killing is being probed by an SIT..The families of both these deceased are being represented by Abhay Nevgi. After providing information on the investigation in these two cases, he went on to state that he has information that earlier status reports submitted with the court may have been taken back..This angered Dharmadhikari J,.How can you make such a statement? You are doing a disservice to your own clients by making such statements. Next time we will throw you out!.Surprisingly Nevgi did not back down..Then do it Your Lordship, you may also record it in the order. I have been hearing these comments from the past couple of occasions, I do not expect such language to be used by the bench..Once tempers subsided, Justice Dharmadhikari then asked both counsels for CBI and SIT to peruse through a letter received by the High Court registry. The judge added that if they are able to ascertain that the writer is mentally stable, they may extract some information from him..Friday, August 5.Mazgaon Court demolition 70% complete.The state government informed a division bench of Justices SC Dharmadhikari and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi that 70 per cent of the demolition work in Mazgaon court has been completed. But because of the rains, completion of the demolition will be delayed said GP Poornima Kantharia..The BMC submitted that permission for construction of a shed which will store all the files and documents from the court will soon be granted by the commissioner’s office..A new court complex is supposed to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 387 crore in place of the current building. The earlier building was declared dangerous following a structural audit.