Chief Justice of India B R Gavai on Sunday inaugurated the newly established circuit bench of the Bombay High Court in Kolhapur district. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde attended the inaugural ceremony.
Fourth Bench to Ease Litigants’ Burden
The Kolhapur circuit bench is the fourth permanent bench of the Bombay High Court, set up following long-standing demands to reduce the hardship faced by litigants and lawyers who earlier had to travel nearly 380 km to Mumbai for hearings.
At present, the Bombay High Court functions through its principal seat in Mumbai and two benches in Nagpur (Vidarbha) and Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar). A third bench also operates in neighbouring Goa.
Notification and Jurisdiction
The establishment of the Kolhapur bench follows a notification issued on August 1 by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe of the Bombay High Court. The bench will begin functioning from Monday, August 18, with one division bench and two single benches.
It will have jurisdiction over six districts: Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg.
Composition of Benches
- Division Bench: Justices M S Karnik and Sharmila Deshmukh.
- Single Benches: Justice S G Dige and Justice S G Chapalgaonkar.
The division bench is expected to hear Public Interest Litigations, civil writ petitions, first appeals, family court appeals, contempt appeals, and other civil and criminal matters arising from the six districts.
Justice Dige’s single bench will handle criminal appeals, criminal revision applications, bail applications, and other criminal matters, while Justice Chapalgaonkar will preside over civil writ petitions, civil applications, and other civil cases assigned to a single judge.
