Explore land availability at Goregaon instead of Bandra for new Bombay HC complex: CJ Upadhyaya to Maharashtra

It expressed displeasure over the delay in handing over vacant possession of 30.13-acre land situated in Bandra (E). It added that while the Goregaon (West) land was not accepted earlier due to accessibility issues, it could be a better idea to explore the same due to the proposed coastal road.

A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif S Doctor was hearing a contempt petition by lawyer Ahmed Abdi that claimed the government’s non-compliance in a 2018 high court order on land allotment.

On March 28, the HC had said the administration had to face constraints due to lack of space at the present heritage building of the principal seat of HC in the Fort area in South Mumbai.

On Friday, Advocate General Birendra Saraf representing the state government submitted an affidavit giving an estimated timeline for handing over portions of 30-acre Bandra land and added that 13.73 acre of land can be handed over by May next year.

After CJ Upadhyaya remarked that the Chhattisgarh HC was getting nearly 100 acre of land for its complex, AG Saraf submitted that another larger land parcel at Goregaon was offered by the government, which was not accepted by the HC due to accessibility issues earlier. A part of that land was later allotted for the construction of the Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU), he added.

However, we cannot go back in time and can proceed further based on our current position, AG Saraf said.

He added that as soon as the Code of Conduct for general elections is over, the government will declare the Bandra land as an area of a public project of vital importance to streamline the construction.

The state said it took a policy decision “to revamp and redevelop” the entire larger plot of 89.75 acre at Bandra under ‘Special Project’ status with the help of the Economic Development Co-operation Fund (EDCH), South Korea, of which nearly 30-acre land is allotted for HC complex.

“What is the position of land at Goregaon? Whether it is accessible through the coastal road?” the CJ remarked, to which Saraf said that it would amount to going back to ‘square one’. Saraf also suggested that the same can be discussed in the administrative meeting of the HC. The government has also come a long way by identifying Bandra land for HC, he added.

However, CJ Upadhyaya, expressing concerns over delay related to Bandra land, said it could be a better idea to at least explore the possibility of utilising the Goregaon land if it can be accessed through proposed coastal road.

“Can you give us details of the total available land at Goregaon? Not even a single displacement has taken place (at Bandra) and not even a single building… removed. By this, we will have a new HC building in 2030 (Bandra)… In the past Goregaon land was not accepted on the accessibility issue. It can be a better idea. It is just a loud thinking on my part,” CJ Upadhyaya remarked. The HC will hear the matter next in June.