Introduction
The High Court of Bombay, which is the chartered High Court and one of the oldest High Courts in the Country. It has Appellate Jurisdiction over the State of Maharashtra, Goa, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli. In addition to the Principal Seat at Bombay, it has benches at Aurangabad, Nagpur, Panaji(Goa).
The Legal history of Bombay may be said to have begun in 1661, when it became a British possession. The Town and Island of Bombay was received by the British as a part of the dowry of the Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza, sister of Alphonso VI, the then Portuguese Monarch, when she married King Charles II . Bombay then was little more than a small fishing village consisting of a few straggling huts of Kolis, its indigenous inhabitants; and its harbour, destined in the course of years to develop into the greatest and most important commercial seaport in the East, sheltered only a few fishing boats. Charles II transferred it to the East India Company in 1668 for an insignificant annual rent of 10 Pounds
The remote ancestry of the High Court, though interesting is not quite inspiring, until we come to the Recorder's Court established under the Charter of 1798. Confining ourselves to the British period- for there is no conceivable connection between our High Court today and such Courts of law as existed in the Portuguese, and still earlier Muslim eras- the judicial history of Bombay commences with the Charter of 1668 accompanying the transfer of Bombay from the Crown to the East India Company. In 1670, the administration of Justice was in the hands of Justices who held their sittings in the Custom Houses of Bombay and Mahim. The system of 1670 was very elementary and suffered from several drawbacks and the judicial system was too much identified with the executive government of the Island.
The main architect of the Judicial system during this period was Gerald Aungier, the Governor of Surat Factory. He has been described as the "true founder" of Bombay. He was a man with liberal ideas and believed in a impartial administration of justice without fear or favor. But he was conscious of these defects and he was himself dissatisfied with the judicial machinery. Aungier was advised by the Company to select someone knowing something of law from amongst the Company's servants in India. Aungier chose George Wilcox as the Judge and the First British Court of Justice was inaugurated in Bombay in 1672 with due pomp and ceremony. Fawcett quotes a detailed description of the opening ceremony on 8th August 1672.
There was a ceremonial procession from the Fort through the Bazaar to the Guildhall (court-house) in the following order :-
Fifty Bandaries in Green liveries marching two by two.
Centues (Hindus) 20 Mooremen (Muslims) 20 Christians each representing their several caste or sect marching two by two.
His Honour's horse of State led by an Englishman.
Two trumpets and Kettledrums on horse back.
The Justice of the Peace and Council richly habited on horse back. The Governor in his Pallankeen with fower (four) English pages on each side in rich liveries bareheaded surrounded at distance with peons, and blacks.
The Clerke of the Papers on foot.
The flower (four) Atturneys, or Common pleaders on foot
The keeper of the prisons and the two Tipstaffs on foot, bareheaded before the Judge.
The Judge on horse back on a Velvet foot cloth.
His servants in Purple serge liveries.
Gentlemen in Coaches and Palankeens.
On this occasion, he delivered a speech full of very noble sentiments, eulogizing the impartial execution of laws, and exhorting the court to do justice without distinction of nationality or religion, not only in cases between private parties, by even against the government. He promised to protect the Judge in the discharge of his duties to the best of his power and authority. In the concluding paragraph of his speech addressed to the court he said :
"The Inhabitants of this Island consist of several nations and religions, like English, Portuguese and other Christians, Moores and Gentoos, but you, when you sit in this seat of justice and judgment, must look upon them with one single eye as I do, without distinction of nation or religion, for they are all His Majesty's and the Hon'ble Company's subjects as the English are, and have all an equal title and right to justice."
The speech does credit to the character of Aungier. He exhibited a passion for fair, impartial and evenhanded justice. No one could have kept a higher ideal of justice than Aungier. It was a good augury for the judicial system, but unfortunately the later Governors did no to follow Aungier's traditions.
Admiralty Court
The setting up of an Admiralty Court in 1684 under the Charter of 1683 opened the second phase in development of the Bombay Judiciary. Dr. St. John, an expert in Civil Law was sent by the Company to preside the Court as Judge - advocate. But there was continuos clashes between the Governor and the Court, and he was dismissed for his refusal to subordinate his own judgment to the wishes and directions of the Governor and Council. After Dr. St. John's exit, Justice continued to be administered by lay person till late in the eighteenth Century. Mayor's Court
In 1726, the issue of the charter by King George I to the Company turned over a new leaf in the evolution of the judicial institutions. The Charter of 1726 introduced a uniformity of approach and established similar judicial institutions. Thus in 1726."The Mayor's Court" was established under direct authority of the King. The Mayor and the nine alderman were to constitution the Mayor's Court. The Court was to have authority to hear and try all Civil Suits arising within the town and its subordinate factories. For the first time, a right of appeal to the King-in-Council from the decision of the Courts in India was granted. The Mayor's Court was to be a Court of record and thus had power to punish persons who might be guilty of its contempt. Like the previous Court even the Mayor's Court was not completely free of the executive influence as the aldermen were either the Company's servants or other English traders who depended upon the Company's permission to stay in India and were thus by and large at the mercy of the local government. The Justice continued to be administered by non professional judges.
In 1753 the Company obtained new Charter from King George II., reestablishing the Mayor's Court. The new Charter repeated some provision of the earlier Charter and created a Court of Requests for the summary disposal of small causes. The Mayor's Court with its inherent defects of Principle and personal functioned for 70 years till 1798.
Recorder's Court
In 1798 the Mayor's Court was abolished and in its place was established the Recorder's Court, as per the Charter of 1798. Judicial administration in Bombay was completely changed for the better by the establishment of this Court. It consisted of a Mayor, three Aldermen and a Recorder appointed by the Crown, who was to be a Barrister of not less then 5 years standing. The first Recorder was Sir William Syer. The official association of Indians in the administration of law started with the establishment of this Court.
A Hindu Pandit learned in the Law of the Shastras and a Mussalman Malvi, learned in the Law of Shariat were appointed to assist the Recorder in the determination of cases involving points of Hindu & Mahommedan Law. With the Recorders' Courts a great step was taken towards the elimination of the Executive from the Judicial sphere. This Court was accumulated at first in Col. Jones's House in Marine Street, and by 1800 in the Admiralty House, otherwise known as 'Hornby House" which later became well known as the Great Western Hotel, in Apollo street. This building accommodated the Recorder's Court till 1824.
The Supreme Court
In 1773 the Regulating Act was passed and Warren Hastings was appointed as the Governor General of Bengal. The Supreme Court of Calcutta was established to remove the evils of the prevailing system. In 1823, an Act of Parliament authorised the Crown to establish a Supreme Court in place of the Recorder's Court at Bombay by Royal Charter. The power vested in the Recorder's Court were to be transferred to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court at Bombay was to be invested with the same powers and authority and was to be subject to the same limitations & restrictions as the Supreme Court at Calcutta by the 17th Section of the Act of 1823. The Court was formally inaugurated at Bombay on 8th May, 1824.
The Supreme Court functioned from 1824 to 1862. The purity and prestige of judicial administration went an increasing. English barristers began to practice in Bombay and some of them achieved distinction in the High Court later. Several notable judgments were given in the Supreme Court, which made an important contributions to the development of Law in India. The main inspiration of the Supreme Court and even the High Court in its early years, was the Law of England: and apart from Hindu and Mahommedan Laws, it was the principle of the Common Laws and Equity which were embodied with slight modification in the judgments of the Courts and the principle Acts of the Indian Legislature later. In the first century of British Justice in Bombay , there is no record of any Indian judge or lawyer. It was only after the establishment of the High Court that Indian Barrister began to make their solitary appearances in the High Court.
The Supreme Court had its own deficiencies and its inadequacy as a Court of plenary jurisdiction were borne upon the authorities in England. In 1852, it was urged upon the Parliamentary Committee for East India Affairs that it was desirable that the Supreme Court and the Sadar Adalats in each Presidency should be consolidated. This led the passing of the India High Courts Act by the British Parliament in 1861 for the creation of High Courts in the three Presidencies instead of the Supreme Court and Sadar Adalats. After the Muting of 1857, the Company was dissolved and the Government of India was taken over by the Crown in 1858. This created a sense of responsibility in the British Government for administration in India and a complete over hauling of the judicial system took place.
The Bombay High Court
The 'Indian High Court Act' of 1861, vested in Her Majesty the Queen of England to issue letters patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom to erect and establish High Courts of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. The Indian High Courts Act, 1861 did not by itself create and establish the High Courts in India. The express and avowed aim of the Act was to effect a fusion of the Supreme Courts and the Sudder Adalats in the three Presidencies and this was to be consummated by issuing Letter Patent. The Charter of High Court of Bombay was issued on June 26, 1862.
The Bombay High Court was inaugurated on 14th August ,1862. The High Court had an Original as well as an Appellate Jurisdiction the former derived from the Supreme Court, and the latter from the Sudder Diwani and Sudder Foujdari Adalats, which were merged in the High Court. With the establishment of the High Court the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and Code of Civil Procedure were enacted into law.
The Letter Patent of the Bombay High Court authorized 15 Judges, but it started with only 7. It is remarkable that, for about 60 years thereafter, the High Court managed to pull on with just 7 Judges, although with advancing years, the laws and the litigation both multiplied. There were no indications that this limited Bench was found inadequate to cope with the work, till about 1919. With the armistice at the termination of the First World War, there was sudden spurt of litigation in the City of Bombay. The number of Suites filed on Original Side, which during War had dwindled down to about 500 rose to about 7000, that the Prothonotary found it difficult to prepare daily boards for 3 Judges. It was only then that an additional Judge was demanded and was grudgingly granted . Bombay was lucky or unlucky in having at this crisis a Chief Justice of exceptional caliber, Sir Norman Mcleod, who instead of multiplying Judges preferred to massacre suits and appeals.
The Charter of the High Court also made it the supreme and final court of appeal in all cases, civil and criminal, decided by inferior courts, except such as possessed the requisite importance, pecuniary or legal, demanding a further appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Ever since the Constitution of the Privy Council as the Court of ultimate appeal from British India by a Statuette of 1833, the bulk of its business was from Indian appeals; so much so that for Indian appeals, a Judge or a lawyer of adequate Indian experience had later to be associated with the Committee. The Bombay High Court has been represented on the Judicial Committee by three distinguished judges, and four eminent counsel; Sir Richard Couch, Sir Lawrence Jenkins and Sir John Beaumont, all Chief Justices. The lawyers who practiced in Bombay High Court before they were appointed to the Judicial Committee, were Sir Andrew Scoble, Sir George Lowndes, Sir D.F. Mulla and Mr. M.R.Jayakar.
The judgments of the Privy Council, generally speaking, have been received in India with complete satisfaction; and some of them contain illuminating expositions of Anglo-Indian law, including principles of Hindu and Mahommedan law. But on one or two occasions, owing to overlooking the relevant section of an Indian statuette, or by a revolutionary construction of a section, their decisions have created some confusion and consternation.
All the Charters of the law Courts in India from the Mayor's Court down to the High Court are silent as regards the jurisdiction of the Privy Council over criminal cases in India.
The last appeal from India was disposed of by the Privy Council on December 15, 1949. Thus came to an end India's 200 years' old connection with the Privy Council on January 26, 1950, the Federal Court gave way to the Supreme Court of India under the new Constitution. The Supreme Court of India is the highest Court of the land. and has been empowered to issued directions, Order of Writs, like the Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Certiorari, Prohibition for the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights which have been guaranteed by the Constitution of the people of India. The Supreme Court has thus been made the guardian of the freedom and liberties of the Indian people.
The High Court was first housed in a building in Apollo Street called the Admiralty House where the Recorder's Court and the Supreme Court held their sittings.
The work on the present building of the High Court was commenced in April 1871 and completed in November 1878 and is situated between the University Building and the Public Work Secretariat and is 562 feet in length by 187 in breadth. It general height to the east is 90 feet, and the Central feature is 178 ½ feet in height. The building which is early English-Gothic was designed by Colonel J.A.Fuller, R.E. and was completed at a cost of Rs. 16,44,528 which was about Rs. 3000, less then the sanctioned estimate. The walls are of rubble and chunam faced with blue basalt roughly dressed and in shallow causes. The Judges have two private stair cases on the western side of the building in the Octagon tower an either side of the porch. The main staircase and entrance for the general public are on the east.
Some unobserved architectural feature of the present building consists of certain sculptures in odd nooks and corners of the walls and ceiling on the western corridor, which display sundry heads of wolves and foxes with counsel's bands round their necks. An outstanding performance of a sculptor is in the first & second floor depicting a monkey-judge (presumably suggested by Aesop's fable of the judicial monkey and the two litigious cats) with one eye bandaged and holding unevenly the scales of justice. There is a tale behind this sculpture. It is said that there was a dispute between the European building Contractor and the Sub-Con tractor, who was a Parsi, over the division of spoils. The Parsi brought a suit and lost. As some finishing touches had yet to be done, the disgruntled suitor avenged himself upon Law and Justice (both Counsel and Judge) in stone and plaster in the aforesaid manner.
The true symbol of Justice, the stone statue of the Goddess of Justice, is on the battlement on the western front of the High Court building. She is represented with both eyes bandaged and holding the Sword of Justice in one hand and the Scales meticulously even in the other.
After the reorganisation of the States with effect from November 1, 1956, the territories of the Bombay State and with it the jurisdiction of the High Court were extensively extended.
Benches of the High Court were established at Nagpur and Rajkot to deal with matters arising from Vidharbha and Saurashtra districts respectively. In 1960 on the formation of the State of Gujarat, the Gujarat High Court was set up. In 1981 a Bench of the High Court was notified in Aurangabad and the Permanent Bench was established in 1984 by the Order of the President. In accordance with the High Court at Bombay (Extension of Jurisdiction to Goa, Daman and Diu) Act, 1981, the Panaji (Goa) Bench of the High Court for the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu was inaugurated in 1982. Later when Goa attained statehood in 1987 the High Court came to have jurisdiction.
Over the two States of Maharashtra and Goa and over the Union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu. The High Court has at present a sanctioned strength of 94 Judges.
Nagpur
Nagpur is an industrial and commercial city situated in the centre of India.Formerly, it was the capital of the former State of Madhya Pradesh and now it is the sub-capital of the State of Maharashtra.
A full fledged High Court was established at Nagpur on 9-1-1936. Sir Gilbert Stone,a Judge of the Madras High Court was appointed as first Chief Justice. The foundation stone of the new building (present High Court building) was laid by late Sir Hyde Gowan on 9-1-1937. The building was designed by Mr.H.A.N. Medd, Resident Architect. It was constructed at a cost of Rs.7,37,746/-.The building consisted of two stories with a garden courtyard in the centre. The outside dimensions are 400 ft x 230ft. The original design provided for a main central dome rising 109 feet above ground land, the remainder of thebuilding being approximately 52 feet in height. The building has been constructed with sandstone. The building has Ashlar stone facing and brick hearting. The flooring in the corridors and offices is of Sikosa and Shahabad flag stones. The building is declared open on 6th January, 1940. On the opening ceremony the Viceroy of India described this building as a poem in stone. The High Court has a fairly well planned garden on the eastern as well as western sides.
The High Court of Judicature at Nagpur continued to be housed in this building till thereorganisation of States in 1956. With effect from 1-11-1956, eight Marathi speaking districts of Vidarbha formed part of the greater bi-lingual State of Bombay which came into existence. Remaining fourteen Hindi speaking districts of the former State of Madhya Pradesh became part of the newly constituted State of Madhya Pradesh with the capital at Bhopal. The High Court of Madhya Pradesh was treated as successor of the former High Court at Nagpur.
A Bench of the High Court at Bombay began to sit in this building at Nagpur with effect from 1-11-1956 and continues to do so even after the formation of the State of Maharashtra on 1-5-1960. During year 1960 the strength of this Bench consisted of four Honourable Judges.
The extension of High Court building consists of two annex buildings on both sides of theexisting building viz., North and South Wings. For this Government of Maharashtra has sanctioned Rs.1,29,26,605/- on dated 21st March, 1983. `South Wing' houses various utilities for public, i.e. litigants and the Bar as well as High Court Government Pleader's Establishment including Standing Coursel for Central Government and `A Panel Counsels, and also for the establishment. In the North Wing, it is proposed to accommodate additional Court Halls, Chambers of the Hob'ble Judges, Judges' Liabrary and the office.
Aurangabad
The Aurangabad bench was established in 1981. Initially only a few districts of Maharashtra were under the Aurangabad bench. Subsequently in 1988, Ahmednagar & others districts were attached to the bench. The bench at Aurangabad has more than 12 judges. The jurisdiction of the Aurangabad Bench is over Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Dhule, Jalna, Jalgaon, Beed, Parbhani, Latur & Osmanabad. The present building of bench is situated in a very huge premises. The centrally located magnificent High Court edifice - constructed at a cost of 350 Lacs, having 6,202.18 Square Metres built up area - has been opened in the month of June 1995.
Goa
Prior to the Liberation of Goa Daman & Diu the highest Court for the then Union territory was the "Tribunal de Relacao" functioning at Panaji. This Tribunal de Relacao was abolished when a Court of Judicial Commisioner was established w.e.f. 16th December 1963 under Goa Daman & Diu (Judicial Commissioner Court) Regulation, 1963. In May, 1964 an Act was passed by the Parliament which conferred upon the Court of Judicial Commissioner, some powers of the High Court for the purposes of the Constitution of India.
Parliament by an Act extended the jurisdiction of High Court at Bombay to the Union territory of Goa Daman & Diu and established a permanent Bench of that High Court at Panaji on 30.10.1982.
From its inception, the Hon'ble Shri Justice Dr. G.F.Couto who was at that time acting Judicial Commissioner was elevated to the Bench of High Court of Bombay. The Hon'ble Shri Justice G.D.Kamat was elevated to the Bench on 29.8.1983.
With the passing of Goa, Daman & Re-organization Act, 1987 by the Parliament conferring Statehood to Goa, the High Court of Bombay became the common High Court for the states of Maharashtra and Goa and the Union territories of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu w.e.f. 30.5.1987.
This High Court was shifted from the old building of "Tribunal de Relacao" to Lyceum Complex at Altinho, Panaji and started functioning there from 3.11.1997. The main renovated building at the said Complex, constructed in the year 1925 by the Portuguese Government, was inaugurated by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Shri M.B.Shah on 2.10.1997. The total amount incurred for renovation of this building alone is Rs.1,72,64,393/-. The Hon'ble the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Shri Y.K.Sabharwal, inaugurated the 2nd building on 9.9.1999. Both these buildings now house several departments of the High Court.