Come August 18, the fourth Bench of the Bombay High Court will start functioning at Kolhapur district, mainly hearing cases from estern Maharashtra and southern Konkan regions.
A notification issued by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe on August 1 said that in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of Section 51 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (No 37 of 1956), and with the approval of the Governor of Maharashtra, Chief Justice Alok Aradhe has appointed Kolhapur as a place at which judges and Division Courts of the High Court may also sit, with effect from August 18, 2025.
Sources said that it would become clear by August 4 as to how many judges would be sitting at the Kolhapur Bench. Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan Gavai is expected to grace the inauguration ceremony, they added.
The principal seat of the Bombay High Court is in Mumbai. It has two separate benches functioning at Nagpur and Aurangabad. The third Bench of the High Court is at Panaji in Goa. Kolhapur will become the fourth bench of the High Court.
There have been demands for a seat at Kolhapur for the past 20 years for easing the burden of litigants and lawyers, who have to travel all the way to Mumbai, the principal seat, which presently has jurisdiction.
The Kolhapur Bench is likely to have jurisdiction over six districts of Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.