BENGALURU: Observing that the Circuit Benches of the High Court at Dharwad and Kalaburagi were first set up and later converted into permanent benches, after taking into consideration various factors and interests of the litigant public, the Karnataka High Court dismissed a public interest litigation filed against the establishment of those Benches.
On May 30, a division bench of Justice B Veerappa and Justice KS Hemalekha dismissed the petition filed by city-based advocate NP Amrutesh in 2014, seeking to strike down the establishment of the HC Circuit Benches at Dharwad and Kalaburagi in 2004, on the ground that there shall be a High Court for each state, in view of the provisions of Article 214 of the Constitution. He also sought directions to conduct a performance audit with regard to investment, expenditure and functional viability of those benches by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
“The distance from Bengaluru, which is the principal seat of the High Court, to various district centres of North Karnataka ranges between 425km and 613km, and hence litigants from all those districts have to travel a long distance to reach the principal seat of the High Court.
It is highly expensive, besides being time-consuming... In the circumstances, it is not open for the petitioner to contend that the establishment at Kalaburagi and Dharwad is a futile exercise. In fact, lakhs of people benefited from the establishment of the courts and the people of North Karnataka are happy...” the court said.
“As the courts came to their doorstep, awareness of legal rights has increased in the citizens of North Karnataka and accordingly, the litigants approached the courts with great expectations of speedy and qualitative justice,” the court observed.