Mumbai, June 17 -- The Maharashtra government has appointed renowned architect Hafeez Contractor to design the new Bombay high court complex at Bandra East, after the previous model designed by the state public works department (PWD) was disapproved by both the judiciary and the state bureaucracy. The state government then held a competition to pick architects for the project, after which Contractor was selected. Confirming this, PWD's chief architect Chetan Akre said, "We have selected Hafeez contractor to design the high court." Contractor, 74, is an award-winning architect behind several skyscrapers in India, including The Imperial twin towers in Mumbai. "The final design [of the high court complex] is being finalised," he said. The new complex will come up over nearly 30 acres in the government colony in Kherwadi. In September, PWD officials had said they were planning to build 75 courtrooms in the new complex, in addition to residences for judges, staff quarters, an arbitration and mediation centre, an auditorium, a library, and amenities for staff, lawyers and litigants. A new complex for the high court was necessitated due to a severe space crunch at the existing premises at Fort. While the iconic three-storey Gothic building, constructed in 1878, was meant to house 15 judges and six to seven courts, it currently houses 29 courts manned by 35 judges. The overall sanctioned strength of judges, meanwhile, has climbed to 94 and many courts are housed in rooms that were earlier used as offices. After considering land at the Mumbai Port Authority, Goregaon and Wadala, the high court zeroed in on the government colony in Bandra, which is spread across 90 acres and located close to the Bandra Kurla Complex and the Western Express Highway....