Advocates Association of Bangalore demand transfer of Karnataka Chief Justice; To approach CJI-designate Dattu next month

The Advocates Association of Bangalore (AAB) has sought the transfer of the current Chief Justice of Karnataka, DH Waghela. The AAB recently passed a unanimous resolution seeking his transfer to “any other High Court” in the country..Speaking to Bar & Bench, AAB President KN Subbareddy said that the resolution was passed after several lawyers expressed dissatisfaction at the state of affairs in the court..Subbareddy said that one of the grievances raised by the lawyers was the lack of timely judicial appointments, including those in the High Court..“The High Court currently has 17 vacancies while the City Civil Court has a 150 vacancies.”.Apart from the vacancies, Subbareddy claims that lawyers are unhappy about the fact that the Chief Justice has not yet visited the High Court’s Benches in Gulbarga and Dharwad. Justice Waghela was made the Karnataka Chief Justice in July last year..Since then, the High Court has been in the news for the wrong reasons, be it a challenge to the designation of Senior Advocates or allegations raised against sitting judge Justice KL Manjunath..Subbareddy said that the AAB plans to meet CJI-designate, HL Dattu as soon as Justice Dattu is sworn in as the Chief Justice of India. Justice Dattu started his practice in Bangalore, and was eventually elevated to the Bench of the Karnataka High Court. If this does not produce any results, Subbareddy says that the lawyers may end up boycotting the Chief’s court..Some of the complaints though, do beg a deeper look. One of AAB’s grouses for instance, lies with Justice Waghela’s decision to impose costs on public interest litigations deemed to be frivolous. You could argue that this goes in a long way in discouraging unnecessary litigation. Secondly, given most judges’ reluctance to speak to the media, it is difficult to imagine how Chief Justice Waghela would counter these allegations..The situation in Karnataka though, still pales in comparison to what has been taking place in Rajasthan. Tensions between the Bar and the Bench have crippled the judiciary machinery throughout the state for more than two months.