BENGALURU: The Advocates’ Association of Bengaluru (AAB) has urged the Union government to place the list of nine names from the Bar recommended by the Collegium of the Karnataka High Court to elevate them to Judges of Karnataka High Court before the Supreme Court to fill vacancies at the earliest.
In a letter written to the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, Attorney General of India and Union Law Minister on Wednesday, Association president A P Ranganatha and General Secretary A N Gangadharaiah expressed concern that litigants are likely to lose faith in the system if justice dispensation is not speeded up by filling the huge vacancy of judges in Karnataka High Court.
Advocates said that the Collegium of Karnataka High Court had recommended nine names from the Bar in May 2018 which they have reliably learnt is pending before the Central Government since June 2018. No action or steps have been taken to forward the same to the Supreme Court. “If the same is not done at the earliest, the litigants are likely to be seriously affected,” they added.
They further said that the sanctioned strength of judges of High Court is 62 and the working strength is only 33. Among 33 judges, 23 are sitting in the Principal Bench of Bengaluru and six judges are functioning at Dharwad Bench and four judges at Kalaburagi bench. The two sitting judges are retiring in 2019. There are more than 3.25 lakh cases pending in Karnataka High Court, the letter read.
It was also stated in the letter that in the principal bench, five division benches and only 13 judges sit to deal with vast number of subjects.