Yesterday, the Maharashtra state government informed the Bombay high court that it had issued a communication on May 25 offering advance possession of a 30-acre plot in Bandra East for construction of new high court complex.

The division bench of acting chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and justice Sandeep Marne was hearing the PIL filed by advocate Ahmad Abdi.

The government also requested the court to depute someone to formally accept possession of the land.

The state government submitted that in light of the communication, the HC should stop listing the public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking allotment of additional building for the HC.

However, the Court declined to accept state government’s request and said that though the PIL was disposed of in March this year, it was kept on the list for monitoring progress with regards to the land and it would continue to do so.

Advocate general Birendra Saraf informed the bench that the state government had already started work on handing over the 30-acre plot of land for the HC complex and the issuance of the May 25 communication was a step towards that end.