HC gets 5 addl judges, 7 permanent judges

The Union government has notified the appointment of five additional judges to the Karnataka High Court.

Ashok Golappa Nijagannavar, Hethur Puttaswamy Gowda Sandesh, Krishnan Natarajan, Pralhadrao Govindrao Mutalik Patil and Appasaheb Shantappa Bellunke have been appointed as the additional judges in that order of seniority.

The notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice states that the appointment of Nijagannavar, Sandesh and Natarajan will be for a period of two years from the date they assume charge. It also adds that Patil will hold office till February 19, 2020, and Bellunke till August 2, 2019.

The Centre also notified the appointment of seven additional judges of the High Court as permanent judges. The additional judges who have been made permanent are: Justices Kempaiah Somashekar, Kotravva Somappa Mudagal, Sreenivas Harish Kumar, John Michael Cunha, Basavaraj Andanagouda Patil, Nangli Krishnarao Sudhindrarao and Hosur Bhujangaraya Prabhakara Sastry.

With this, the Karnataka High Court will now have 22 permanent judges and seven additional judges against the sanctioned strength of 47 and 15 respectively.