BENGALURU: The relay strike by advocates entered its second day on Tuesday. They were paid a visit by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda who promised to raise the matter of judge vacancies in the Karnataka High Court with the Union government.
The strike also resulted in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which he termed the pending vacancies of 47 judges in the Karnataka HC as ‘appalling’.
“At present, there are about 2.5 lakh cases pending before the Karnataka High Court, Bengaluru, Dharwad and Kalaburagi branches. The load of cases is increasing by the day and the number of judges is decreasing,” he said.
Siddaramaiah pointed out that more than 45 recommendations had been made by the collegium of the Karnataka HC from 2016 and appointments had been made. He asked Modi to take immediate steps to ease the situation. The situation has also resulted in Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda writing a letter to Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Minister for Law and Justice. He has asked for his intervention to ensure that his ministry speeds up the appointment of judges. Gowda had met the advocates on Monday.
Deve Gowda, speaking to advocates on Tuesday, promised to meet Prime Minister Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind and raise the matter with them. Justice V Gopala Gowda, former judge of the Supreme Court, on Tuesday also met the fasting lawyers and promised to join them soon if no appointments were made within the next few days.