Don’t want K’taka judges to hear my case: Petitioner

In the 'rarest of rare' cases, a petitioner asked the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court and another judge, out of 34 judges, to hear his petition. But the Chief Justice rejected the plea.

Vish, a resident of Richmond Town, filed a writ petition before the court, asking the Chief Justice to direct his case for adjudication before the Chief Justice (single bench) or the justice at court hall number 7 — presumably Justice Alok Aradhe.

He also made a prayer that none of the petitioner's case should be posted for adjudication before the justices or judges of the local (Karnataka) origin. The prayer was made in relation to company application (No 360/2017 in CP No 8/1965).

But Chief Justice Abhay S Oka passed an order rejecting the petition, stating that the petitioner cannot make a blanket allegation that he will not get justice from the 32 sitting judges of the court.

The petitioner cannot make a distinction from the judges from the state of Karnataka and those transferred from other states. All the judges of this court are, in a sense, local judges even if they are transferred from other courts, the Chief Justice observed.

Citing a Calcutta High Court decision, Justice Oka said: "The decision (of the Calcutta High Court) does not permit the petitioner to raise such contention (regarding the judges). If the petitioner has objections (about) a particular judge hearing his case, he always has the remedy of applying for a transfer. Therefore, the prayers made in this petition cannot be granted."