The Supreme Court has stepped in to cut through the maze of legal confusion clouding the relocation of the Bombay High Court. In a decisive move, the country’s top court has ordered that every case tied to the new court complex — and the land beneath it — must be heard by the High Court alone, and more specifically, by a single designated bench.
No more jurisdictional merry-go-rounds. No more ping-ponging petitions. If it’s about the Bandra land parcel for the new High Court building, it stays under one judicial roof.
“We’re told there are 21 PILs already pending,” noted the bench of Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih. “Let them all go to one bench. Let this be done quickly. No other court will touch this matter.” That’s the directive — clean, stern, final.
The heart of the matter lies in a 4.09-acre plot in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), earmarked for the High Court’s new address. Of that, 1.94 acres have already been handed over. The rest is entangled in the chaotic sprawl of densely packed slums. The Court acknowledged the rehabilitation challenges but was told that the remaining land would be cleared and transferred by the end of April.
The origin of the case traces back to a suo motu action triggered in 2024. The current heritage building — a gothic relic over 150 years old — is creaking under pressure, both structurally and operationally. That urgency pushed the conversation forward.
Last year, the High Court had momentarily flirted with the idea of Goregaon as an alternative site, asking the State to sketch out access possibilities via the proposed coastal road. But the Supreme Court quickly pulled the reins. Bandra, it ruled, is where the future lies.
With this latest order, the Court has not only drawn boundaries on legal jurisdiction but also signaled that this project, long stalled in bureaucratic haze and public interest tangles, is now on a fast track. One bench. One site. One direction.
