Govt sanctions Rs 3 crore for new hall at Nagpur bench of Bombay HC for lawyers

NAGPUR: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday approved the long pending demand of the legal fraternity to build an additional hall for ever growing number of lawyers at the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court.
The state law and judiciary department under deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis sanctioned Rs3.18 crore to construct a hall on the second floor of the HC southern annex building. The High Court Bar Association (HCBA) team led by president Atul Pande and secretary Amol Jaltare were pursuing the matter ever since they took over in April last year.
“We first sent a letter on July 22. We met Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Fadnavis in this regard and submitted our representations. Former chief justice Dipankar Datta also extended his support to us after he was apprised of our problem to accommodate over 3,000 lawyers practising in HC, of which only 750 could sit in bar rooms. We got full support from justices Bhushan Gavai, SV Gangapurwala, Sunil Shukre, Anil Kilor and Atul Chandurkar. We extend our special thanks to the deputy CM for granting funds,” an elated Pande and Jaltare told TOI.
According to them, the new construction would come up on the terrace spread over 1,476.69 sq m. “The actual built up area would be 764.52 sq m and carpet area is 700.32 sq m. No inconvenience would be caused to the existing offices during the construction work. The annex building was constructed in 1984 and is in good condition. On completion, the new hall will provide seating facilities to over 1,000 lawyers,” the duo said.
The HCBA, which would be celebrating its centenary, had also submitted plans for a new annex building on 2 acre land behind PWD executive engineer’s bungalow opposite the HC premises, but this has remained on paper since last three years.