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Bombay High Court
The Goa bench of Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane at Arpora, where a devastating fire on December 6 killed 25 persons, into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) observing "someone has to be held accountable in such kind of cases". The HC also asked the state government to file a reply on permissions granted to the ill-fated nightclub. The petition was filed by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, owners of the land on which the nightclub stood. Converting it into a PIL, the division bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Prithviraj Chavan said "someone has to be held accountable in such kind of cases". It observed that the local panchayat had failed to take suo motu cognisance of the club and had taken no action despite complaints. Commercial operations were going in the structure despite it being served a demolition order, the HC bench pointed out. Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing Amonkar and Divkar, was made amicus .
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court refused to grant relief to a mosque seeking permission to use loudspeakers, noting it was not entitled to use the device to practise religion as a matter of right. The court, while relying on Supreme Court judgments, said that no religion mandates prayers to be offered through voice amplifiers or beating drums. A bench of Justices Anil Pansare and Raj Wakode said that the issue of noise pollution was recurring and took suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the same and asked the Maharashtra government to come up with an effective solution. The court, in an order dated December 1, dismissed a petition filed by Masjid Gousiya in Gondia district seeking permission to use loudspeakers to offer prayers. The bench noted that the petitioner was unable to submit any material to show that the use of loudspeakers was mandatory/necessary to practice their religion. "The petitioner, therefore, is not entitled to seek relief for the installation of a ...
The Bombay High Court on Thursday said authorities cannot blame ash clouds from the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia for air pollution in the metropolis and said the air quality index here has been poor much before that. A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad was urged to take up hearing into a bunch of pleas from the year 2023 on the issue of air pollution in the city. Senior counsels Darius Khambata and Janak Dwarkadas, appearing for the petitioners, said the AQI in the city has been consistently poor and above 300 this month. Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan said air pollution has worsened due to the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia two days back. The court, however, discarded this and said air pollution has been bad much before the eruption of the volcano. "Even before this eruption, if one stepped out visibility was poor beyond 500 metres," the court said. The bench, while referring to the situation in Delhi, which is witnessing alarming
The Bombay High Court while upholding an order of the State Bank of India (SBI) classifying the accounts of industrialist Anil Ambani and Reliance Communications as fraud has said it was a reasoned order, and did not have any legal flaw. A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale on October 3 dismissed a petition filed by Ambani, challenging the SBI order. The judgment, a copy of which was made available on Tuesday, said there was no merit in Ambani's plea as there was no "infirmity" in the SBI order of June 13, 2025. The court did not entertain the industrialist's contention that the order should be held as null and void because he was not given a personal hearing, and relevant documents were not furnished to him. The right available under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Master Directions, under which the SBI passed its order, is that of making a representation and not of personal hearing, the high court noted. Ambani had submitted his response to the show-cause .
The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by industrialist Anil Ambani challenging the State Bank of India's (SBI) decision classifying his and Reliance Communications' accounts as fraud. A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale said there was no merit in the plea. A detailed copy of the judgement was not available immediately. The SBI had last year classified the accounts as fraud, alleging misappropriation of funds by entering into transactions that violated the terms of loans extended by it. Ambani moved the HC, arguing that the bank had not followed the principles of natural justice as it did not grant him a hearing. Certain documents, based on which the classification orders were passed, were not provided to him initially, and furnished only after six months, the petition claimed. The bank this year lodged a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which searched premises linked to Reliance Communications and Ambani's ...
The Bombay High Court on Friday received a bomb threat email, the second in a week, which turned out to be a hoax after a thorough search, an official said. An email about a bomb blast in the court premises in south Mumbai was received on the official ID early in the morning, he said. Teams from the bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) and dog squad carried out a complete search, but nothing suspicious was found, the official said. The court began functioning according to its regular timing, he said. The high court had received a similar threat email on September 12, which led to the suspension of hearings for a few hours. The police had registered a case against unidentified persons at the time.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday issued notices to the seven persons acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on an appeal filed by the family members of the victims. A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad also issued notices to the prosecution -- National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra government -- and posted the appeal for hearing after six weeks. The HC was hearing an appeal filed by the family members of the six persons who lost their lives in the blast against the acquittal judgment. The appeal challenged a special court judgment acquitting the seven accused in the case, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit. The appeal filed last week claimed that a faulty investigation or some defects in the probe cannot be the grounds for acquitting the accused. It also contended that the conspiracy (of the blast) was hatched in secrecy and hence, there cannot be direct evidence of it. The petitioners clai