Karnataka High Court

High Court of Karnataka
ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಉಚ್ಚ ನ್ಯಾಯಾಲಯ
Karnāṭaka Ućća Nyāyālaya
Emblem of the court
Map
12°58′40″N 77°35′33″E / 12.9779°N 77.5926°E / 12.9779; 77.5926
Established1884 (140 years ago) (1884)
JurisdictionKarnataka
LocationPrincipal bench
Additional benches
Coordinates12°58′40″N 77°35′33″E / 12.9779°N 77.5926°E / 12.9779; 77.5926
Composition methodPresidential appointment on advice of the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of Karnataka.
Authorised byConstitution of India
Judge term lengthMandatory retirement at age 62
Number of positions62
LanguageKannada, English
Websitekarnatakajudiciary.kar.nic.in
Chief Justice
CurrentlyNilay Vipinchandra Anjaria
Since25 February 2024

The High Court of Karnataka (IAST: Karnāṭaka Ućća Nyāyālaya, commonly called the Karnataka High Court and formerly Mysore High Court) is the High Court of the Indian state of Karnataka and thus its highest judicial authority. The court's principal bench is located in Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka, with additional benches in Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi. It was previously called the High Court of Mysore. In Bengaluru, the High Court functions out of a red-painted brick building known as the Attara Kacheri, located opposite the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the Karnataka Legislature.

Composition

The High Court is composed of the Chief Justice of Karnataka and other judges. Judges are appointed by the President of India.[1] As of February 2022, there are 45 judges in the High Court,[2] out of a sanctioned maximum strength of 62.[3] Nilay Vipinchandra Anjaria is the Chief Justice since 25 February 2024.

Powers and jurisdiction

The High Court is the highest judicial authority within the State of Karnataka. It has superintendence over all courts and tribunals, such as district courts, operating within Karnataka, except those of the armed forces.[4][5] Appeals against judgments of lower courts, such as district-level civil and sessions courts, are heard in the High Court. Appeals against judgments of the High Court are heard by the Supreme Court of India.

The High Court is a court of record and can prosecute for contempt of itself.[6]

The Karnataka High court has two permanent benches at Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi. The permanent Karnataka high court bench at Hubballi-Dharwada became operational on 24 August 2013 and Kalaburagi on 31 August 2013.[7] Before operational of permanent high court benches, Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi had circuit benches of Karnataka High Court from the year 2008. Hubballi-Dharwada bench of Karnataka High Court was inaugurated by then Chief Justice of India K.G.Balakrishnan on 4 July 2008 and became operational from 7 July 2008 A.D.[8]

Premises

Main article: Attara Kacheri
Rear facade of Attara Kacheri, the Bengaluru seat of the Court's principal bench (in Neoclassical architecture style)
Attara Kacheri, the Bengaluru seat of the Court's principal bench

The High Court's principal bench is located in Bengaluru, in a building called the Attara Kacheri. It is a wide two-storied building of stone and brick, painted red, in the neoclassical style of architecture. It was constructed between 1864 and 1868.[9] It is located in Bengaluru's Cubbon Park.

Attara Kacheri Plaque
Karnataka High Court Plaque

There was a proposal to demolish this building in the year 1982.[10] A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the High Court pleading to stop the demolition. This was the first PIL to be filed in the court, and the case was heard in the same building that was supposed to be demolished.[11] The petition was struck down by the High Court, but the proposal to demolish the building was dropped in 1985 when the Supreme Court asked the state government to reconsider demolition.

Heritage

Lord Cubbon, the then Viceroy of Colonial India was responsible for building Attara Kacheri. a building is Greco-Roman styled architecture with red paint, sprawling vast space with a distinguished mark at the center. A portion of the High Court building stood as Attara Kacheri, which housed public offices in the Mysore Kingdom era.

The building now has the entrance from the side opposite to the Vidhana Soudha, which was actually the rear side of the estewhile Attara Kacheri. Over an hundred years later, when this building became the High Court to award justice to lakhs of people the potential weakness of the building due to ageing and wear and tear, the building was deemed close to demolition a quite a number of times, during Kengal Hanumanthaiah tenure and also in 1984 to bring a new structure in the same place. There had been protests and backlashes on that proposal for dismantling of the colonial structure from the citizens. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed, which was dismissed by the High Court. The petition went on to the Supreme Court. At the same time, the Government on the concerns of the citizen, stepped back from the decision decided to expand the High Court Building to suite the progressive requirement. The government of Karnataka had assigned this job to the engineers of PWD,[12] and preparations were made to start renovation of the High Court in 1986 to renovate the old structure and also build a new parallel structure in the same style to the erstwhile Attara Kacheri. Eventually, in 1990s the Karnataka Government rejuvenated the old Attara Kacheri building with an extension of a new blocks along with the existing building. During this time, the old building structure was strengthened to suite the requirement. A plaque has been installed during the inauguration of the Northern Block, and was inaugurated by Lokayuktha Venkatachala.[13]

Notable judges

Judges of the court, E. S. Venkataramiah, M. N. Venkatachaliah, S. Rajendra Babu and H.L. Dattu, went on to become Chief Justices of India[14] and others including Kalmanje Jagannatha Shetty, N. Venkatachala, R. V. Raveendran, Shivaraj Patil, Venkate Gopala Gowda, A.S Bopanna, Mohan Shantanagoudar, S. Abdul Nazeer, A. S. Oka and B. V. Nagarathna were appointed judges in the Supreme Court of India.[15]

Chief Justices

P Mahadevayya, M Sadasivayya, Nittoor Srinivasa Rau, Sam Piroj Bharucha and G. T. Nanavati were some notable Chief Justices who presided over this court.

List of former Chief Justices

High Court of Mysore
N Chief Justice Term
1 Charles George Plumer 1884 – July 1890
2 Sir T. R. A. Thumboo Chetty July 1890 – 4 November 1895
3 James William Best 4 November 1895 – 1907
4 Stanley Ismay 1908–1912
5 P. Mahadevayya 1931–1934
6 Justice Palecanda Belliappa Medapa 1948 -1955
High Court of Karnataka
# Chief Justice Term
1 R. Venkataramaiah 1 November 1956 – 16 July 1957
2 S. R. Das Gupta 25 July 1957 – 13 August 1961
3 Nittoor Srinivasa Rau 29 March 1962 – 7 August 1963
4 A. R. Somanath Iyer 23 November 1969 – 29 December 1969
5 M. Sadasivayya 30 December 1969 – 16 September 1970
6 A. Narayana Pai 17 September 1970 – 6 June 1973
7 G. K. Govinda Bhat 7 June 1973 – 14 December 1977
8 D. M. Chandrashekar 22 March 1978 – 25 September 1982
9 K. Bhimaiah 28 October 1982 – 10 April 1983
10 V. S. Malimath 6 February 1984 – 24 October 1985
11 Prem Chand Jain 28 August 1986 – 16 September 1989
12 S. Mohan 26 October 1989 – 7 October 1991
13 S. P. Bharucha 1 January 1991 – 30 June 1992
14 S. B. Majumdar 2 July 1993 – 13 September 1994
15 G. T. Nanavati 28 September 1994 – 4 March 1995
16 M. L. Pendse 28 July 1995 – 25 March 1996
17 S. A. Hakeem 3 May 1996 – 9 May 1996
18 R. P. Sethi 29 June 1996 – 6 January 1999
19 Y. Bhaskar Rao 9 March 1999 – 26 June 2000
20 P. V. Reddi 21 October 2000 – 16 August 2001
21 Nagendra Kumar Jain 31 August 2001 – 20 October 2004
22 N. K. Sodhi 19 November 2004 – 29 November 2005
23 Cyriac Joseph 7 January 2006 – 6 July 2008
24 P. D. Dinakaran 8 August 2008 – 7 August 2010
25 Jagdish Singh Khehar 8 August 2010 – 12 September 2011
26 Vikramajit Sen 24 December 2011 – 24 December 2012
27 Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela 7 March 2013 – 1 June 2015
28 Subhro Kamal Mukherjee 23 February 2016– 9 October 2017
29 Dinesh Maheshwari 12 February 2018 – 17 January 2019
30 Abhay Shreeniwas Oka 10 May 2019 – 30 August 2021
31 Ritu Raj Awasthi 11 October 2021 – 2 July 2022
32 Prasanna B. Varale 15 October 2022 – 24 January 2024
33 P. S. Dinesh Kumar 3 February 2024 – 24 February 2024
34 Nilay Vipinchandra Anjaria 25 February 2024 – Incumbent

Chief justice and judges

The current sitting judges of the court are as follows:[16]

# Name Position From
1 Nilay Vipinchandra Anjaria Chief Justice 21 November 2011
2 K. Somashekar Permanent Judge 14 November 2016
3 Kottravva Somappa Mudagal Permanent Judge 14 November 2016
4 Sreenivas Harish Kumar Permanent Judge 14 November 2016
5 Hosur Bhujangaraya Prabhakara Sastry Permanent Judge 21 February 2017
6 Krishna Shripad Dixit Permanent Judge 14 February 2018
7 Shankar Ganapathi Pandit Permanent Judge 14 February 2018
8 R. Devdas Permanent Judge 14 February 2018
9 Bhotanhosur Mallikarjuna Shyam Prasad Permanent Judge 14 February 2018
10 Siddappa Sunil Dutt Yadav Permanent Judge 14 February 2018
11 Mohammad Nawaz Permanent Judge 2 June 2018
12 Harekoppa Thimmana Gowda Narendra Prasad Permanent Judge 2 June 2018
13 Hethur Puttaswamygowda Sandesh Permanent Judge 3 November 2018
14 Krishnan Natarajan Permanent Judge 3 November 2018
15 S.R. Krishna Kumar Permanent Judge 23 September 2019
16 Ashok Subhashchandra Kinagi Permanent Judge 23 September 2019
17 Suraj Govindaraj Permanent Judge 23 September 2019
18 Sachin Shankar Magadum Permanent Judge 23 September 2019
19 Neranahalli Srinivasan Sanjay Gowda Permanent Judge 11 November 2019
20 Jyoti Mulimani Permanent Judge 11 November 2019
21 Nataraj Rangaswamy Permanent Judge 11 November 2019
22 Hemant Chandangoudar Permanent Judge 11 November 2019
23 Pradeep Singh Yerur Permanent Judge 11 November 2019
24 Maheshan Nagaprasanna Permanent Judge 26 November 2019
25 Maralur Indrakumar Arun Permanent Judge 7 January 2020
26 Engalaguppe Seetharamaiah Indiresh Permanent Judge 7 January 2020
27 Ravi Venkappa Hosmani Permanent Judge 7 January 2020
28 Savanur Vishwajith Shetty Permanent Judge 28 April 2020
29 Lalitha Kanneganti Permanent Judge 2 May 2020
30 Shivashankar Amarannavar Permanent Judge 4 May 2020
31 Makkimane Ganeshaiah Uma Permanent Judge 4 May 2020
32 Vedavyasachar Srishananda Permanent Judge 4 May 2020
33 Hanchate Sanjeevkumar Permanent Judge 4 May 2020
34 M. G. Shukure Kamal Permanent Judge 17 March 2021
35 Rajendra Badamikar Permanent Judge 25 March 2021
36 Khazi Jaibunnisa Mohiuddin Permanent Judge 25 March 2021
37 Chillakur Sumalatha Permanent Judge 15 October 2021
38 Anant Ramanath Hegde Permanent Judge 8 November 2021
39 Siddaiah Rachaiah Additional Judge 8 November 2021
40 Kannakuzhyil Sreedharan Hemalekha Permanent Judge 8 November 2021
41 Cheppudira Monappa Poonacha Additional Judge 13 June 2022
42 Anil Bheemsen Katti Additional Judge 16 August 2022
43 Gurusiddaiah Basavaraja Additional Judge 16 August 2022
44 Chandrashekhar Mrutyunjaya Joshi Additional Judge 16 August 2022
45 Umesh Manjunathbhat Adiga Additional Judge 16 August 2022
46 Talkad Girigowda Shivashankare Gowda Additional Judge 16 August 2022
47 Ramachandra Dattatray Huddar Additional Judge 24 January 2023
48 Venkatesh Naik Thavaryanaik Additional Judge 24 January 2023
49 Vijaykumar Adagouda Patil Additional Judge 9 February 2023
50 Rajesh Rai Kallangala Additional Judge 9 February 2023
51 K. V. Aravind Additional Judge 25 October 2023

Additional Benches

Karnataka High court bench in Kalaburagi.

The Karnataka High Court is currently functional in Bengaluru, Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi. There was a long-standing demand for an additional bench as the location of Bengaluru in south-east corner of the state caused hardship for people visiting the High Court from the distant northern regions of the state. This issue led to agitation, including boycott of court proceedings by lawyers in the northern region. The demand was finally met in the year 2006 when it was decided that circuit benches of the High Court would be set up in Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi.[17] The new branches were inaugurated on 4 and 5 July 2008, respectively. There was later demand to make both Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi benches permanent. Consequently, Hubballi-Dharwadaa circuit bench became a permanent bench from 25 August 2013 and Kalaburagi circuit bench became a permanent bench from 31 August 2013.

Controversies

In late 2002, 14 newspapers and periodicals reported that some judges from the High Court of Karnataka were allegedly involved in a sex scandal in Mysore. A high-level judicial inquiry committee was established by the Chief Justice. Later, the committee acquitted the judges as they could not find any substantive evidence.[18][19][20]

About 2.7 lakh cases were pending in Karnataka High Court as on 2023 which is suffering from a serious backlog of cases, inability to follow Karnataka Civil Procedures and its inability to deliver speedy justice.[21]

There are about 20 Lakhs cases pending in the state as of August 2024 for which the High Court becomes the custodian of final justice.[22]

References

  1. ^ Article 216 of the Constitution of India (1950)
  2. ^ "High Court of Karnataka Official Web Site".
  3. ^ "High Court sees highest number of judges at 43". The Hindu. 9 January 2020. Archived from the original on 21 December 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  4. ^ Article 227, Clause 1 of the Constitution of India (1950)
  5. ^ Article 227, Clause 4 of the Constitution of India (1950)
  6. ^ Article 215 of the Constitution of India (1950)
  7. ^ "Permanent Benches of Karnataka High Court Established at Dharwad and Gulbarga". Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Dharwad high court bench all set to celebrate its 10th anniversary". Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  9. ^ "Attara Kacheri: Building that housed 18 public departments made way for Karnataka High Court". The Economic Times. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  10. ^ "When the axe was spared". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 18 April 2007. Archived from the original on 10 December 2007. Retrieved 11 September 2007.
  11. ^ "The battle for Attara Kacheri". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 18 April 2006. Archived from the original on 12 September 2006. Retrieved 11 September 2007.
  12. ^ Dayananda, Prof. N. Justice N Venkatachala - The Tireless Crusader. pp. 143-165
  13. ^ Iyer, Meera (2019) Discovering Bengaluru. ISBN 9353210291 pp. 98-99
  14. ^ "List of Judges of Karnataka who were appointed as Chief Justice of India". Online webpage of The High Court of Karnataka. Retrieved 11 September 2007.
  15. ^ "List of Judges of Karnataka who were appointed as judges in the Supreme Court of India". Online webpage of The High Court of Karnataka. Retrieved 11 September 2007.
  16. ^ High Court of Karnataka - Profile of sitting judges
  17. ^ "Contracts signed for circuit Bench buildings". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 5 August 2006. Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2007.
  18. ^ "Mysore sex scandal: Media faces contempt case". The Times of India. India. 7 February 2003. Retrieved 7 February 2003.
  19. ^ "Contempt proceedings against scribes stayed". The Tribune. Retrieved 5 May 2003.
  20. ^ "Karnataka HC judges cleared in sex scandal". Rediff. Retrieved 2 February 2003.
  21. ^ Singh, Ratna (15 August 2023). "Alarming that over 2.7 lakh cases pending in Karnataka High Court: Chief Justice PB Varale". Bar and Bench - Indian Legal news. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  22. ^ "With 16% vacancies, lower courts in Karnataka grapple with 20L+ pending cases". The Times of India. 12 August 2024. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 19 August 2024.

Further reading