Demand for establishing a High Court circuit bench

CH NEWS, SHIVAMOGGA

Former MLA Swami Rao urged the state government to establish a High Court circuit bench in Shivamogga for the convenience of the people of Central Karnataka. He was speaking while inaugurating the second phase of a massive, indefinite protest launched today by the District Advocates' Association at the district court complex, demanding the establishment of a High Court bench in the city. Recalling that a demand for a High Court circuit bench in the district was first raised at a lawyers' conference in Shivamogga back in 1950, he noted that High Court benches already exist in Kalaburagi and Dharwad. He urged the government to prioritize Shivamogga by considering the judicial service needs of the region, rather than granting the bench to Mangaluru. He described the formation of a three-judge committee to examine the feasibility of establishing a High Court circuit bench in Mangaluru as a temporary, superficial measure intended to mislead the public. The committee, constituted by the Chief Justice of the High Court, is set to visit various districts including Mangaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Shivamogga, Davanagere, and Madikeri to prepare a report.
Senior advocate and Honorary President of the High Court Bench Agitation Committee Basa[[agpwda, spoke about their earlier meeting with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, where they had requested that if a circuit bench were to be granted, it should be allocated to Central Karnataka. He expressed dissatisfaction that, despite Siddaramaiah’s assurance that there was no cause for concern regarding this matter, the promise remains unfulfilled. He voiced suspicions that, after gathering opinions from all districts, the committee might exclude some and instead place Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Madikeri, Uttara Kannada, and Dakshina Kannada districts under the jurisdiction of the proposed Mangaluru bench. Lawyers KP Sripal, Kantaraju, Jagadish, and Vidyarani, as well as Gopinath. President of the Chamber of Commerce and Chandru. GR Raghavendraswamy, President of the District Advocates' Association, stated that a second phase of the protest has been organized on the district court premises, led by 49 organisations, including the District Circuit Bench Committee. He emphasised that the protest was launched with the firm demand that the circuit bench be established within Central Karnataka and a refusal to go to the coastal bench.