Bombay High Court (Marathi:
) at Mumbai, Maharashtra, is one of the oldest High Courts of
India[1] with jurisdiction over the states of Maharashtra & Goa, and, the Union Territories of Daman and Diu andDadra and Nagar Haveli. The High Court has regional benches at Nagpur and Aurangabad in Maharashtra andPanaji, Goa.[1] The court is one of the most distinguished high courts in the country. The first Chief Justice, the Attorney Generaland Solicitor General of Independent India were from this court. Since India's Independence, 22 judges from this court have been elevated to the Supreme Court and 8 of them have been Chief Justice of India.[2] The court has Original Jurisdiction in addition to its Appellate. The decisions of this court can be appealed only to the Supreme Court of India. The Bombay High Court has the sanctioned strength of 75 judges.[3]
History & Premises
The Bombay High Court was inaugurated on 14 August 1862. Although the name of the city was changed fromBombay to Mumbai in 1995, the Court as an institution did not follow suit and remained as the Bombay High Court. The work on the present building of the High Court was commenced in April 1871 and completed in November 1878. It was designed by British engineer Col. J.A. Fuller. The first sitting in this building was on 10 January 1879. Architecture: Gothic revival in the Early English style. It is 562 feet (171 m) long and 187 feet (57 m) wide. To the west of the central tower are two octagonal towers. The statues of Justice and Mercy are atop this building. The 125th anniversary of the building is slated to be marked by the release of a book, commissioned by the Bar Association, called "The Bombay High Court: The Story of the Building - 18782003" by local historians Rahul Mehrotra and Sharada Dwivedi. [edit]Sesquicentennial
celebrations
The High Court organized several functions in 2012 to mark completion of 150 years of establishment of the High Court. A special postal cover was released by Shri Milind Deora, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology at the historical Central Court Hall, High Court main building on 14 August 2012. An exhibition displaying important artifacts, documents and articles of historical importance was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Prithviraj Chavan in the Central Court Hall on 15 August 2012. The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Chief Guest at the concluding ceremony of the year long Sesquicentennial celebrations on 18 August 2012.[4] [edit]The
Chief Justice and the Judges
The court has a Sanctioned strength of 75 judges. The court handles 3.4 lakh cases, both civil and criminal. 32 sitting judges of the court disposed around 2,000 cases each in 2004.[citation needed] The court has a ratio of 1:1.61 million :: judges to people. Recently, 8 new judges were elevated as High Court Judge[citation needed]. The Current Chief Justice is Hon'ble Mr. Justice Mohit S. Shah. His Lordship is the Former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court and was earlier, the Senior Most Judge at the High Court of Gujarat. The former Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar was elevated to the Supreme Court of India on 16 December 2009[citation needed]. Hon'ble Justice S.B Bhasme who resigned in the year 1979 to practice in the supreme court had a notable tenure amongst the high
courts judges and passed revered judgments affecting matters of public importance.[citation needed] Hon'ble Justice S H Kapadia, Hon'ble Justice Sirpurkar have been elevated to the Supreme Court from Bombay High Court. [5][6]
Established
1862
Country
India
Location
Mumbai, Nagpur, Aurangabad & Panji
Coordinates
185552.26N 724949.66ECoordinates: 185552.26N 724949.66E
Composition method Authorized by Decisions are appealed to Judge term length Number of positions Website
Presidential with confirmation ofChief Justice of India and Governor of respective state. Constitution of India Supreme Court of India
Till 62 years of age
75
[Link] Chief Justice
Currently
Mohit S. Shah
