Poor infra hinders judges' appointment

The strength of judges in the Karnataka High Court has been increased by 25 per cent by the Supreme Court. But the High Court says that it will have additional judges only if the State government provides adequate infrastructure.

With two circuit benches having been converted into permanent benches, the High Court will have an additional 12 judges, taking the strength to 60 from 48 as per the apex court’s order to increase the strength by 25 per cent.

“The Chief Justice received the letter from the SC a couple of weeks ago. It is for all states. We need more judges considering pendency and filing, but it depends on whether the State government will provide infrastructure, which includes new court halls, vehicles and residential quarters and necessary human resources,” sources told Deccan Herald.

At present, the existing strength of judges being 38, there has been a vacancy of 10 judges. The permanent bench at Dharwad has only five or six courts functioning, while the number of courts here is 11. “We need three more judges here for effective functioning,” advocate B D Hiremath said.

In Gulbarga, only three courts are functioning out of the 11 court halls, of which one is a division bench. 

The appointment of judges will resolve the problem of sending judges to other two benches to conduct the proceedings.