CJI B.R. Gavai inaugurates Bombay High Court circuit Bench at Kolhapur

Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai inaugurated the Bombay High Court’s new circuit Bench in Kolhapur district on Sunday (August 17, 2025).

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were present on the occasion.

The Bench was inaugurated after years of demands raised by different stakeholders to ease the burden for litigants and lawyers facing difficulty in travelling to Mumbai.

At present, apart from the principal Bench in Mumbai, the HC has two more Benches — at Nagpur in the Vidarbha region and Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) in the Marathwada region. A third Bench of the High Court sits in adjoining Goa.

On August 1, Bombay High Court Chief Justice Alok Aradhe issued a notification appointing Kolhapur as a circuit Bench. The Kolhapur Bench will be functional from August 18 with a division Bench and two single Benches. The new Bench will have jurisdiction over six districts — Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. The Kolhapur division Bench will comprise Justices M.S. Karnik and Sharmila Deshmukh. Justices S.G. Dige and S.G. Chapalgaonkar will preside over the single Benches.

The division Bench is expected to hear matters including public interest litigation petitions, civil writ petitions, first appeals, family court appeals, contempt appeals, as well as all other civil and criminal matters from the districts of Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. The single Bench of Justice Dige will hear cases including criminal appeals, criminal revision applications, bail applications and other criminal matters. Justice Chapalgaonkar will preside over a single Bench hearing a range of cases including civil writ petitions, civil applications and other civil matters assigned to a single judge.