Karnataka - Hubli-Dharwad   

Political parties support Dharwad Bar's stand

Staff Correspondent

`It is inappropriate to urge the Government to change the location as it will delay the process of setting up of the Bench'

HUBLI: Members of the Dharwad Bar Association got a shot in the arm on Monday with leaders of various political parties supporting their stand on the location of a Circuit Bench of the High Court of Karnataka.

Rajendra Gokhale of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Gururaj Hunasimarad of the Janata Dal (Secular), Ashok Lad of the Janata Dal (United) and others expressed their support to the members at a press conference here.

They said that it is inappropriate to urge the Government to change the location at this juncture as it will further delay the process of setting up of the Bench. The Bar associations of Hubli, Dharwad and other places along with various organisations have been fighting for the Bench for the past five decades.

But on Monday, the members of the Hubli Bar Association, who held an emergency meeting under the chairmanship of Prakash S. Jayawadagi, Vice-President of the association, refuted the statement of B.D. Hiremath, President of the Dharwad Bar Association, in this regard.

The Hubli Bar Association has clarified that during the meeting of lawyers from 12 districts of North Karnataka held on October 7, 2003, no resolution was passed to urge the Government to set up the Bench at the Water and Land Management Institute (WALMI) Complex. They said that there is no proposal before the Government to establish the Bench at the WALMI Complex. The members alleged that Mr. Hiremath is trying to mislead the general public and Bar associations of various districts.

They sought to clarify that it was after several years of agitation by various Bar associations, general public and organisations the State Government had agreed to set up Circuit Benches in North Karnataka. It is wrong on the part of any Bar association to say that the Government had conceded the demand because of its agitation alone.

Urging the State Government to establish the Circuit Bench at a place in between Hubli and Dharwad, the meeting appealed to the Dharwad Bar Association to stop pressing for its location at the WALMI Complex.

Meanwhile, the Mayor, Hanumanthappa Betageri, who is in a spot after the corporation approved a resolution in connection with the Bench favouring the stand of the Hubli Bar Association, has been advised by Mr. Morey to keep away from the issue.

"Why do you get yourself confused and confuse others. There are so many issues related to the corporation. Concentrate on how to solve them," the Minister is said have told the Mayor during his visit to the Neersagar reservoir on Sunday.

Members of the Dharwad Bar Association had staged a dharna in front of the office of the Mayor in Dharwad seeking clarification following which Mr. Betageri backtracked on his statement about the Bench issue.

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