Five former Presidents of the Advocates Association of Western India (AAWI), including four senior advocates, have approached the Bombay High Court with a petition seeking the installation of air conditioning systems in the Advocates Bar Rooms within the high court premises. The petitioners include Senior Advocates Shirish Gupte, Ashok Mundargi, Prasad Dhakephalkar, Rajiv Patil, and Advocate Balkrishna Joshi.
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The plea was mentioned before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor. Advocate General Birendra Saraf, representing the state government, apprised the bench of a government resolution that has been passed, confirming the allocation of funds for the necessary infrastructure. The division bench is set to hear the plea on November 6.
Highlighting the background, the petitioners stated that air conditioning systems were initially installed in the courts in 2000 to mitigate external noise. However, the exhaust systems were positioned outside the bar rooms, leading to elevated temperatures within these rooms. Although air conditioners were allocated for the bar rooms in 2015-16 following representations by AAWI, they became non-operational post-2020 due to a lack of maintenance and servicing.
The plea emphasizes the current state of the bar rooms, stating,
“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.”
In an effort to address the situation, the advocates submitted a representation to the Maharashtra government on June 6, 2023, seeking an approval for ₹4.31 crore for a new air conditioning system. The government responded positively, approving the installation on October 3, 2023, and sanctioning funds of ₹3.76 crore for the project. However, the lawyers have expressed concerns that despite the approval, the installation might not be completed in the foreseeable future, leaving the advocates’ plight unchanged.
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