Bom HC not providing copy of orders; SC expresses unhappiness

Expressing unhappiness over Bombay High Court for "repeatedly passing orders" without making their copies available to the conerned parties, the Supreme Court has asked the Chief Justice to intervene and see if "something can be done".
The apex court made the remarks during the hearing of a matter relating to a property dispute after counsel for the petitioner informed the bench that despite the order being passed by the High Court in August, its copy has not been made available to them.
"We are extremely unhappy that the Bombay High Court is repeatedly passing orders without making a copy thereof available to the parties. We request the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court to look into the matter and consider whether something can be done," a bench of Justices M B Lokur and Adarsh Kumar Goel said.

The court's order came after petitioner company M/s Gada Properties Pvt Ltd failed to provide the copy of high court's order which it has challenged before the apex court, despite earlier directions by the bench.
While granting permission to the firm to file an appeal without the certified as well as plain copy of the judgment, the bench said "in this case, the order was passed by the High Court on August 8, and even two and half months later, a copy of the order is not available".
"This raises a serious issue of access to justice," the court said while directing an interim stay on the high court order. The bench also issued notice to the civic body and others on the plea of firm.

The apex court had on September 16 granted interim stay on high court's August 8 order and directed the civic body not to take coercive steps against the petitioner, including demolition of the suit property, till the next date of hearing of the matter.
It had also given two weeks to the firm to produce the certified copies of the high court's order.
The firm's petition was dismissed by the high court on August 8 in which it had challenged the order of civic body terming portions of its three buildings in the city as illegal.