Bombay High court wants Central Telegraph Office building, asks Maharashtra government for allotment

The Bombay high court registry has sent a proposal to the Maharashtra government to allot the Central Telegraph Office (CTO) for its use. The CTO building adjoining the high court building is lying unused as the Centre has stopped the telegram service.

A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Girish Kulkarni were informed about this by the Registrar Judicial, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Ahmed Abdi.

The petition says that due to the ever-increasing litigation in the high court, there is a huge footfall, and moreover, there is a paucity of space for litigants, advocate and judges.

The PIL prays for directions to the authorities to allot a new building to the Bombay high court and to appoint a high powered committee to decide on a suitable location at the earliest. Advocate Abdi said: "The high court building is a 150-year-old building and due to the increase in litigation there is huge space crunch. Advocates don't have proper offices, litigants waiting for their case to come for hearing don't have space to sit. There is also a storage problem of court records."

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and chief justice of Bombay high court had discussed about the space crunch faced by the high court. Accordingly, with a view to resolve it, a proposal has been sent to the government for allotting the CTO building. The recent communication of August 24, written by the Registry to the chief secretary, was placed before the court.

Advocate Abdi said: "IF the CTO building is allotted, the high court administration will have an additional 20,000 to 30,000 square feet area and as a short-term measure it can surely help. But steps need to be taken keeping in mind the future."

Advocate Bharat Mehta, appearing for the government, said, "The court has asked the advocate general and the additional solicitor general to appear before it on the next date and apprise the bench about the developments on the issue."

In July, the telgram service was discontinued and since then the CTO building is in a non-operational state.

The court has adjourned the hearing of the case to August 22.