2025 INSC 1460
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REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 914 OF 2025
RANJEET BABURAO NIMBALKAR ….PETITIONER(S)
VERSUS
STATE OF MAHARASHTRA & ANR. ….RESPONDENT(S)
J U D G M E N T
ARAVIND KUMAR, J.
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The present writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution assails an
administrative notification issued by the High Court of Judicature at
Bombay appointing Kolhapur as a place at which the Judges and Division
Courts of the said High Court may sit. The impugned notification, bearing
No. P.0108/2025 dated 01.08.2025, has been issued on the administrative
side of the High Court in exercise of the power conferred by Section 51(3)
of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, with the approval of the Governor
of the State of Maharashtra. It is the case of the respondents, as borne out
from the material placed on record, that the said arrangement was made
operational with effect from 18.08.2025.
2. The High Court of Judicature at Bombay, established in 1862, has
historically exercised jurisdiction over an extensive and geographically
diverse region. Following the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and the
reorganisation of States in 1960, the statute provided a framework enabling
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High Courts to hold sittings away from the principal seat where
considerations of conven...