Members of the Bar Associations in Ballari and Koppal districts on Monday abstained from attending the courts in their respective taluks to oppose the demand from a section to tag the two districts to Karnataka High Court Bench in Kalaburagi.
They demanded that the two districts should be continued under the jurisdiction of the Dharwad Bench of the Karantaka High Court.
In Ballari, Patel Siddareddy, President of the Ballari Bar Association, along with several senior advocates, including Uded Basavaraj, K. Janardhan, D. Ramakrishna among others, submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Justice of Karnataka D.H. Waghela, through Mr. C.V. Margoor, Principal District and Session Judge Ballari, requesting him not to effect any changes in the present system and continue to retain Ballari and Koppal districts under the jurisdiction of Dharwad.
The contention of the advocates in these two districts has been that changing the jurisdiction would cause a lot of inconvenience to the litigant public and also to advocates in attending the courts, especially in the absence of proper rail and road connectivity to Kalaburagi.
“It is over six years now that these districts were brought under the jurisdiction of Dharwad bench of the High Court and people have adjusted to it. Altering the jurisdiction of the two districts to be tagged to Kalaburagi, which is not only far and without proper rail and road connections, it is nothing short of meting out great injustice to the litigant public”, Mr. Siddareddy told The Hindu .
He also informed that the advocates from both the districts would be going in a delegation shortly and submit a memorandum to the judge in the Dharwad bench of the High court and also meet the Chief Minister and Law Minister, during the winter session of the Legislature to be held at Belagavi and urge them not to effect any changes to the present jurisdiction of the two benches of the High Court.
According to reports reaching here, the members of Bar Associations in Sandur, Sirguppa, Kudligi, Hadagali and Hagari Bommanahalli in Ballari district abstained from attending court work and submitted a memorandum pressing for continuing the district in the jurisdiction of Dharwad bench of the High Court.
Even in Koppal, the advocates abstained from attending the court and demanded status quo .
