State cabinet nod to HC circuit bench in Kolhapur

KOLHAPUR: The state cabinet on Tuesday passed a resolution favouring the setting up of a circuit bench of the Bombay high court in Kolhapur, for a region covering Kolhapur, Solapur, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts.

The cabinet resolution stated, "A recommendation shall be made to the chief justice of the high court for the latter's approval to the setting up of the circuit bench in Kolhapur for the six districts. Simultaneously, a request shall be made to the high court for positive consideration of establishment of another circuit bench in Pune."

Confirming the cabinet decision, Kolhapur district guardian minister Chandrakant Patil told TOI, "The demand for a circuit bench in Kolhapur was not properly addressed in the past by the state government. Bombay high court Chief Justice Mohit Shah had earlier asked the lawyers and the state authorities to ensure that they secure a cabinet resolution in favour of a circuit bench in Kolhapur so that he could take take a call on the matter. Hence, the state government passed the resolution."

The high court will now examine the cabinet resolution and decide on the further nitty gritty of establishing the circuit bench as recommended. The bench will also have to consider the recommendations expected to be made by a three-judge panel appointed in the past by the high court chief justice , for examining the issue of circuit benches in Kolhapur and Pune.

For now, the cabinet decision provides a major boost to the 28-year struggle of lawyers from the six districts of western Maharashtra, as they feel thousands of litigants and around 18,000 lawyers from the region will directly benefit from a functional circuit bench.

Last year, the lawyers from Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts and four talukas from Solapur had launched an indefinite strike for the circuit bench demand. The stir was called off after Chief Justice Shah had assured them of looking into the matter.

Kolhapur District Bar Association (KDBA) president Rajendra Chavan said, "There are high court benches in Nagpur and Aurangabad , while the issue of one more circuit bench in Kolhapur or Pune was being talked about for long. As of now, the high court has between 50,000 and 60,000 cases originating from the six districts for which the circuit bench in Kolhapur is recommended. The average distance of these cities from Mumbai is far more compared to the distance between Pune and Mumbai, which is not even 200 km."

The lawyers were on indefinite strike for 55 days from August 29, 2013. They had formed a 22-member joint action committee (JAC) for the purpose. Last year, they even boycotted the court proceedings on December 12 as well as the Lok Adalat on December 13.

Former KDBA president Vivek Ghatage said, "Kolhapur is best suited for the circuit bench considering the increase in the number of cases from this region and associated factors such as the need for faster justice to the litigants. The Law Commission of India had in its report to the Union government on August 5, 2009 recommended decentralization of the high courts by way of establishment of more benches to meet such objectives and also to ensure that the litigants are not required to travel long distance."

As of now, a petitioner from Kolhapur has to spend two days in traveling to and fro to the Bombay high court and spend one more day for the case proceedings. This is both expensive and time consuming.