Pune and Kolhapur lawyers battle it out for HC bench in Maharashtra- Despite lawyers from Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli pushing for a circuit bench in Kolhapur, the chances of Pune getting an HC Bench remains high as it had applied much earlier. The delegation which recently met the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Mohit Shah, said authorities are more positive about setting up the bench in Pune rather than in Kolhapur. The delegation of representatives of Pune Bar Association (PBA), Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa (BCMG) will meet the special committee constituted by the Justice Shah to examine the demand of circuit bench at Pune this week. "The two-member committee comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice S J Vazifdar will meet the Pune delegation this week. Justice Chandrachud will return from abroad on Monday. We will finalise the day and time and will meet him this week," said advocate Sureshchandra Bhosale, a member of Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa. The committee was set up after Pune lawyers kept away from court proceedings for two days in protest against the move to set up the circuit bench at Kolhapur. On the second day of the strike, Justice Shah met a delegation from Pune and decided to set up a committee to re-examine the Pune proposal. "He was positive about the proposal. He asked us if it would be feasible to bring Ahmednagar district under the purview of the Bench along with Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur. The things will be more clear after the upcoming meeting with the committee," said Bhosale. Insiders say though Kolhapur lawyers have taken the stance that they would not object if both Pune and Kolhapur get the circuit benches, such a move is very unlikely. "It would be either Pune or Kolhapur," the insider said. Petitioners from Pune and nearby areas currently have to travel 200 km to Bombay High Court. About 40 per cent of the petitions in the HC are from Pune. In 1978, the Assembly had passed a resolution with a aim to save both time and money of the litigants. Sudhakar Nalge, a resident of Dhankawdi who has been visiting the HC for the last eight months in a family dispute case, said, "On hearing day I have to leave Pune at dawn to reach the court by 11 am. Sometimes I lose two working days to attend the proceedings. If a bench is set up in Pune it will solve the problems of hundreds of litigants like me."
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 04:02:24 +0000