High Court Stay - Transfer of Patrika Bhavan from Karwar to Sirsi

Justice S Abdul Nazeer of the circuit Bench of Karnataka High Court at Dharwad has stayed the operation of the order issued by the director, department of information, who had ordered the transfer of funds meant for the Patrika Bhavan from Karwar to Sirsi. 


Two separate writ petitions were filed by the Journalists Associations of Karwar. The petition contended that Rs 25 lakh was released by the government to construct Patrika Bhavan in every district headquarter of the state for the use of the working journalists.  But the director of the information department had written a letter to the deputy commissioner of Uttara Kannada district on February 2, asking him to divert the fund to Sirsi. The director had cited that the Journalists Union in Sirsi was recognized by the State Journalists Association and there was no land available in Karwar to build the Bhavan.

The Journalists Association of Karwar had challenged the order contending that the state government had allotted the amount to the district headquarters and the director of the information cannot change the decision of the government. Karwar journalists had shown that they have the land available to build the Patrika Bhavan and the director of the information department had acted unilaterally without giving the proper opportunity to Karwar journalists to prove their case. They had submitted enough evidence to the court that according to the state policy, the money had to be sanctioned to the district headquarters and not to any association or union of journalists. The high court upheld the argument of the Karwar journalists and stayed the operation of the order issued by the director of information department in this regard. 
Advocates V P Kulkarni and K V Kalwad argued on behalf of the Karwar journalists.


Source - Times of India

HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA Notification about the Circuit Bench cases

The Full Court of the High Court of Karnataka, vide Resolution dated 03.06.2008, has resolved to commence sitting of Judges and Division Courts at the Circuit Benches at Dharwad and Gulbarga on 07.07.2008. The Full Court has also resolved that cases arising from the Districts of Bagalkot, Bellary, Belgaum, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Uttara Kannada - Karwar and Koppal will be heard and decided at the Circuit Bench at Dharwad and cases arising from the Districts of Bidar, Bijapur, Gulbarga and Raichur will be heard and decided at the Circuit Bench at Gulbarga. It has been further resolved that pending cases from the above mentioned districts will be transferred to the respective Circuit Bench before 07.07.2008 and that filing of new cases at the Circuit Benches will be permitted from 07.07.2008.

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Advocates heading for new 'benches'

The two High Court circuit benches set to start functioning from July 7, have brought smiles on the faces of several advocates, who are practising in Bangalore as they are more happy to return to their backyards in North Karnataka.

Many advocates are busy searching for suitable places to establish their offices at Dharwad and Gulbarga. Some of them have already started packing-up.

Even those North Karnataka advocates, who have a thriving practice in Bangalore since 1980 are ready to move their office to Dharwad, because they have been receiving more than 80 per cent of the cases from that region.

Over 40,000 case files of northern region pending before the High Court have already been transferred appropriately to these two benches by the Court registry.

They are all set to start their practice at Dharwad and Gulbarga by next week.

The Circuit Bench will have jurisdiction over the districts of Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bellary, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Koppal and Uttar Kannada. Apart from Justice S.R. Bannurmath, Justice A.N. Venugopalgouda, Justice S. Abdul Nazir, Justice Ashok Inchageri and Justice A.S. Pachchapur will be officiating judges.

Dharwad gets the High Court Bench...

The nearly nine decades old aspiration of the people of North Karnataka became a reality at 3:51 pm on Friday the 4th July 2008 with the inauguration of the Karnataka High Court Circuit Bench here by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.

Speaking after inaugurating the Circuit Bench, Justice Balakrishnan said that many a time the demand for high court benches or circuit benches were unreasonable and not in the interests of litigants or the public. “But I feel the demand for Dharwad bench was genuine,” he added. However, he asked the legal fraternity to ensure that the Circuit Bench renders utmost service to the people.

During the inaugural function, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa put forth a proposal for setting up a Supreme Court bench in Bangalore and sought a full-fledged High Court bench in Dharwad.