WORK BEGINS: Animal Husbandry Minister Revu Naik and Principal District and Sessions Judge B.A. Muchandi performing `bhoomi puja' for the High Court Bench building in Gulbarga on Friday.

GULBARGA: The State Government on Friday approved the contracts for construction of the buildings for the circuit Benches of the Karnataka High Court in Dharwad and Gulbarga.

Official sources said here that while the Bangalore-based Rao Construction Company bagged the Rs. 61-crore contract for the building in Dharwad, the Mumbai-based Unity Infras Project Ltd. got the Rs. 66.8-crore contract for the court complex in Gulbarga.

While the Rao Construction Company's proposal was finalised a couple of days ago, the Mumbai firm's proposal was finalised on Friday after prolonged negotiations.

Even as the negotiations were in the final stages and the agreements were being signed, the Government decided to go ahead with the `bhoomi puja' in Dharwad and Gulbarga on Friday as announced earlier, without any publicity.

In Gulbarga, the groundbreaking ceremony was conducted by Animal Husbandry Minister Revu Naik and Principal District and Sessions Judge B.A. Muchandi in the presence of the Afzalpur MLA, M.Y. Patil.

Originally, Public Works Minister H.D. Revanna was scheduled to participate in the `bhoomi puja' in Gulbarga and Dharwad, but his visit was cancelled at the last minute. But the Government gave the green signal to conduct the `bhoomi puja' on Friday considering the urgency of the matter and the personal intervention by Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph.

The foundation stones of the buildings for the Gulbarga and Dharwad Benches were laid by the then Chief Justice of the High Court, N.K. Sodhi, in the presence of the then Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh last year.

The building for the Gulbarga Bench will come up on 22 hectares west of the ring road connecting the Gulbarga-Bangalore State highway with the Gulbarga-Afzalpur State highway. Spread out over 32,554 sq. m, the court complex will have a basement and ground and two floors. Apart from a court hall for the Chief Justice, there will be a retiring room, 10 court halls and retiring rooms for the judges, offices of the Registrar and the Advocate-General and a library. The court complex will also have quarters for judges and others.

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