India’s Chief Justice BR Gavai said on Sunday (August 17, 2025) that the Maharashtra government has always been a pioneer in providing infrastructure for the judiciary in the state. He was speaking after inaugurating the new circuit bench of Bombay High Court in Kolhapur district.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were also present on the occasion. Chief Justice Gawai said, “Some people, I do not want to take his name, commented that the Maharashtra government is behind in the matter of providing infrastructure for the judiciary.”

Government always stands with the judiciary

He said, ‘This is wrong. I believe that when the question of the infrastructure of the judiciary comes, Maharashtra is not far behind in this matter. The government is always standing with the judiciary in the matter of infrastructure. He said that the state government has made the impossible possible by ensuring that the building for Kolhapur bench should be built in a short time.

The Chief Justice said that those who comment that the state government is lagging behind in the case of judicial infrastructure, they do not know about Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde. I was confident that the government would ensure that the back was set up and all the infrastructure should be made available.

Demand for a back in Pune from lawyers

Chief Justice Gawai said that he has always supported a bench in Kolhapur, as no common man should be forced to come to Mumbai (main bench of Bombay High Court) to fight for his rights. The Chief Justice said that now a bench is being demanded by the lawyers in Pune, but he said that this will not be possible, because only a handful of lawyers have demanded this, not the common people.

The fourth bench in Kolhapur has been established amid demands arising for years from various regions, so that the burden on litigants and lawyers can be reduced, who have to go to Mumbai 380 km away to hear their petitions.

A circuit bench formed in Kolhapur

Currently, in addition to the main bench in Mumbai, there are two more benches of the High Court, in Nagpur in Vidarbha region and in Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) in Marathwada region of Vidarbha region. The third bench of the High Court is located in the nearby Goa. Bombay High Court Chief Justice Alok Aradhe issued a notification on August 1 to form a circuit bench in Kolhapur.

The Kolhapur bench will work with a bench and two single benches from Monday (August 18, 2025). The jurisdiction of the new bench will be on six districts Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg (located in the last two coastal Konkan areas).

These Justices will hear these Justice in Kolhapur bench

The Kolhapur bench will include Justice MS Karnik and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh, while Justice SG Digig and Justice SG Chapalgaonkar will preside over the single bench. It is expected that the bench will hear public interest petitions, civil writ petitions, first appeals, family court appeals, contempt appeals as well as Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Ratnagiri and all other civil and criminal cases in Sindhudurg districts.

Justice Digig’s single bench will hear criminal appeals, criminal revision applications, bail applications and other criminal cases. Justice Chapalgaonkar will preside over the single bench and this bench will hear the retrieved writ petitions, civil applications and other civil cases submitted to single Justices.

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