CM pleads for SC bench in Bangalore

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa requested Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily and Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan to set up an apex court bench in the state capital.
He also said the Government would soon set up ‘Gram Nyalayas’ as proposed by the Centre.

“Bangalore is centrally located in South India. The City is equidistant from all locations in the south. It is convenient for the people of the southern states to travel to Bangalore,” Yeddyurappa said in his written address to the joint conference of chief ministers and chief justices of high courts here.

Since the chief minister did not attend the conference, his speech was read out by Home Minister V S Acharya.

Yeddyurappa said the litigants of the southern states and the Union Territory of Puducherry experienced considerable hardship in travelling all the way to Delhi to pursue cases in the Supreme Court.

“The phrase Delhi door hai (Delhi is still far away) is still valid when it comes to the common people from far-off places in the south,” he said. Chief Minister Yeddyurappa cited the cosmopolitan culture of Bangalore and the friendliness of its people to make a strong case for a Supreme Court bench in the City.

The Law Commission in its recent report had recommended the setting up of regional benches of the Supreme Court in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai or Hyderabad.

Though the bench proposed in Chennai or Hyderabad is aimed at litigants of the southern states, the chief minister has been projecting Bangalore as an ideal location for it.

Yeddyurappa commended Chief Justice of Karnataka P D Dinakaran for the speedy disposal of pending cases. He said all judicial officers, under the stewardship of the chief justice, had recently committed themselves to dispose of more than seven-year-old cases before December this year, and more than five-year-old cases before April next year.

Yeddyurappa revealed that the state government would establish family and labour courts in all districts. He requested the Centre to provide 100 per cent financial assistance for infrastructure development as well as recurring expenditure like salary. He said his government had sanctioned Rs 2.5 crore to install dragon naturally speaking devices and MS Windows on laptop computers provided to judicial officers. “Soon judicial officers in my state will start dictating their orders and judgments at their convenience. This will indeed be a step towards ensuring speedy disposal of cases,” he added.