AFTER years of lawyers and citizens repeatedly raising the demand, holding protests and fasts, the Kolhapur bench of the Bombay High Court is set to become a reality now. A notification to this effect was issued by the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Alok Aradhe on Friday.
The bench will start to function from August 18. It will be inaugurated on August 16.
It was Chief Justice of India B R Gavai who first conveyed the move to set up the Kolhapur bench of the Bombay High Court to former Rajya Sabha MP Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati when both were flying to Nagpur from Delhi on Friday.
“While I was flying from Delhi to Nagpur today, Chief Justice of India Bhushan Gavai was seated next to me. The CJI wasted no time in telling me the good news… The CJI said he notified the circuit bench of the Bombay High Court in Kolhapur,” Sambhajiraje said in a social media post.
The HC notification said the Kolhapur bench was being set up by invoking the powers under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. The order was signed by Bombay High Court Chief Justice Alok Aradhe. The bench will have jurisdiction of six districts including Kolhapur, Solapur, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.
Sambhajiraje told The Indian Express, “The demand for a Kolhapur bench of the Bombay High Court goes back 30 to 35 years. Lawyers have held several protests, fasts and even boycotted court proceedings. Their effort has finally borne fruit. The years of fight has succeeded.”
He said, going to Mumbai from Kolhapur was an onerous task involving time, money and effort. “And in these days of traffic jams, it has become doubly difficult for people from Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Konkan to make it to Mumbai. the bench will be of immense benefit to litigants and the legal fraternity from Western Maharashtra and even Konkan,” he said.
Sambhajiraje said, “When the CJI gave me the good news, for a while I couldn’t believe it… When I was the Rajya Sabha, I had pursued the matter at the central level. I want to congratulate the entire legal community from Kolhapur and Western Maharashtra for this success.”
Moments after the Bombay HC issued the notification, lawyers in Kolhapur celebrated the development with gusto. Hailing the move, Sarjerao Khot, president of the Kolhapur Advocates Bar Association, said, “Lawyers have been consistently holding agitations, demanding a circuit bench of the Bombay High Court for six districts in Kolhapur. In 2012, lawyers from six districts of Western Maharashtra had boycotted the court proceedings for a 56 days continuously. In 2017, lawyers had observed 167 days of chain hunger strike. In 2015, the then chief justice had given a report that an HC bench should be set up in Kolhapur. However, the report was not properly communicated which led to protests.”
Khot said last year, lawyers had organised an advocates conference and then took out a rath yatra from Kolhapur to Pandharpur to press for their demand for a bench. “In the last one year, we had created a positive atmosphere. Our hopes rose high when CJI Bhushan Gavai had backed out demand for an HC bench in public speeches four times,” he said.
Khot said now litigants can look forward to speedy justice. “There are at least 90,000 pending cases from six districts in Bombay High Court. The litigants will now get early justice and won’t have to slug it out all the way to Mumbai,” he said, adding the fight put up by lawyers from six districts has finally yielded rich dividend.
Khot said the Bombay HC benches are already there in Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (earlier called Aurangabad) and Panaji in Goa. “Kolhapur will be the fourth bench of the Bombay HC,” he added.
Former Bombay High Court judge B G Kolse-Patil said, “It is a good move. It is justice at the doorstep of litigants. The monopoly of lawyers in Mumbai will get a break now. Litigants will not have to travel all the way to Mumbai and pay a hefty fee to Mumbai lawyers.”
The former judge added, “There is no difference in the decision making powers when it comes to a bench of the Bombay High Court in Mumbai, Kolhapur or other places. A circuit bench is similar to the Bombay High Court bench. The judges belong to Bombay high court and they are periodically exchanged.”
Kolse-Patil said, “Pune should have got it. And we are hopeful Pune will get a Bombay High Court bench as well. People of Kolhapur had to struggle a lot for years having to go to Mumbai. It is good that Kolhapur finally got it.”
Congress MLC Satej Patil who is from Kolhapur said, “Finaly, after years of struggle, lawyers and litigants have a lot to cheer for now. They can look forward to speedy justice. There are thousands of cases from six districts of Western Maharashtra pending in the Bombay High Court. One hopes the new bench, once it is set up, will ensure speedy justice to litigants. We congratulate the lawyers from the six districts for their unrelenting effort in getting a bench in Kolhapur.”
Milind Pawar, former president of Pune Advocates Bar Association said, “It is a good development for litigants and advocates from six districts. However, Pune has missed out. In 1978, the state legislature had unanimously passed a resolution for setting up a bench for Pune and Aurangabad. Pune didn’t get but Aurangabad got it in 1982. We have been agitating for a bench for years.”
Pawar said, “The four circuit benches get judges but don’t get a chief Justice.”
Sushil Mancharkar, former president of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Advocates Bar Association, said, “Justice will become more accessible now to people from six districts who had to endure a nightmare while travelling to Mumbai. Pune has also been demanding a bench. We are hopeful it will be sanctioned soon.”
Former Rajya Sabha MP Sambhajiraje (right) said CJI B R Gavai conveyed to him that he has "notified" the circuit bench of the Bombay High Court in Kolhapur. (Express Archive/Ganesh Shirsekar) 
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