The Hindu : Karnataka News : Visit by judges' panel may defuse tension

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 21, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Visit by judges' panel may defuse tension

By M. Madan Mohan

DHARWAD, MARCH 20. The report that a three-member committee of judges of the Karnataka High Court will be visiting Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum on March 26 in connection with the demand to set up Circuit Benches of the High Court should help defuse the tension over the issue here.

The apparent "delay" in setting up the Circuit Benches led to the indefinite hunger strike by B.D. Hiremath, President of the Dharwad Bar Association, and another senior advocate, Prafulla Naik, which entered its 11th day on Friday.

The agitation intensified with Mr. Hiremath turning down the plea of the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, during his recent visit to Dharwad to end the strike.

As a consequence, Mr. Singh called on the Chief Justice of Karnataka, N.K. Sodhi, on Friday. Later, the Chief Minister announced that the three-judge committee will visit Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum soon.

Long drawn battle

It was in October last year that the issue of the establishment of the Circuit Benches was settled between the State Government and the High Court. The then Chief Justice of Karnataka, N.K. Jain, had rejected the plea to establish a permanent Bench but approved the setting up of Circuit Benches in Hubli-Dharwad and Gulbarga. With this, a long-drawn battle was won by the advocates.

What remain are some official procedures of looking into the facilities available for the establishment of the circuit Benches for which the then Chief Justice had constituted the three-member committee headed by Justice S.R. Nayak.

Since the notification and orders in this regard were passed on the eve of the retirement of Mr. Justice Jain as the Chief Justice of Karnataka, the matter awaited the arrival of his successor, Mr. Justice Sodhi. Mr. Justice Nayak, who headed the committee, became the acting Chief Justice pending the assumption of office by Mr. Justice Sodhi. Everybody thought that the matter would be taken up once Mr. Sodhi assumed office. But apprehensions surfaced when it was not broached for long. The Law Minister, H.K. Patil, had also met the Chief Justice with regard to the issue.

But as the uncertainty continued, Mr. Hiremath revived the agitation for the establishment of the Circuit Benches again. The State Government found itself in a bind when the indefinite hunger fast started getting wide publicity. Also, it claimed that it had played its role and it was now for the High Court to take a decision on the issue.

It is against this background that Mr. Hiremath refused to oblige Mr. Dharam Singh when he appealed him to withdraw the agitation.

Mr. Hiremath demanded that at least the date of visit of the committee be announced so that he can withdraw the agitation. Apparently, this demand has been conceded.

Cautious

The Dharwad Bar Association seems to have adopted a cautious approach to the impending visit by the three-member judges' committee to Hubli-Dharwad and Gulbarga to select locations for the circuit Benches of the High Court.

This is how one may explain about the decision taken by the association on Saturday to withdraw its fast but to continue boycott of courts.

Stand

According to many members, the Bar association's this stand is just if the manner in which the agitation has been continued after its launch.

``We have now become wiser. We will not let the tempo of the agitation slacken till the objective is achieved," a senior member of the association said.

It is against this background the decision to withdraw the fast but to continue the agitation was taken on Saturday, the member added.

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