Read Time: 04 minutes

Synopsis

Five former Presidents of the Advocates Association of Western India, including four senior advocates, have filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking the installation of air conditioning systems in the Advocates Bar Rooms in the high court.

The petition was mentioned today before the division bench of Chief Justice Devendra K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor.

Advocate General Birendra Saraf, representing the state government, informed the bench that a government resolution has been passed, and funds have been allocated for the required infrastructure.

The division bench said that it will hear the plea on Monday.

The petition has been filed by Senior Advocates Shirish Gupte, Ashok Mundargi, Prasad Dhakephalkar, Rajiv Patil, and Advocate Balkrishna Joshi.

The plea states that air-conditioning systems were installed in the courts in the year 2000 to avoid the noise from outside the high court.

The exhaust systems were installed outside the bar rooms, which resulted in the bar rooms remaining hot. 

Subsequently, in 2016, air conditioners were allocated for the bar rooms following representations made by AAWI (Advocates Association of Western India).

The plea mentions that the air conditioners were operational until 2020. 

However, since 2021, there has been no maintenance or servicing of the air conditioners, causing them to become non-functional. 

Consequently, with the exhaust system installed outside the bar rooms, the temperatures have started rising again.

The former presidents had approached the high court seeking an allocation of funds of Rs. 43,137,719, but the high court registrar approved the allocation of Rs. 37,637,000 for the installation of air conditioners. However, the installation work has not been executed as of yet.

The petition states that currently there is no proper ventilation in the Advocates Bar Roms in the high court premises due to exhausts.

"Today there is no proper or healthy ventilation in the Bar rooms and due to the exhausts of air conditioners of court rooms, Bar rooms have become inhabitable for human beings," the plea states.

Case title: Shirish Gupte & ors. Vs State of Maharashtra & Ors.