Pointing out that there is an acute shortage of space for its effective functioning, the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday directed the State government to come out with a comprehensive proposal to provide adequate additional space for the offices, court halls, chambers of judges, public amenities and parking for the High Court.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice M.G.S. Kamal issued the directions while hearing a two PIL petitions filed in 2019 for shifting the offices situated in the basement floor of the High Court building and for providing additional space for the High Court.
Rise in number of petitions
“It is not in dispute that in view of the factors such as rise in filling of the petitions, the appointment of more number of judges, etc., there is hardly any scope for this court to house the court halls, chambers for the judges, and to provide adequate space for basic amenities and utilities,” the Bench observed.
Earlier, Chief Justice Varale orally told the Additional Advocate General Pratima Honnapur that chambers for newly-appointed judges were provided in congested locations within the building and there is acute shortage of space even to increase the number of court halls as and when new judges are appointed based on the sanctioned strength of the High Court.
For basic facilities
There is also no scope or space to provide basic facilities to advocates to interact with the litigants and other amenities, the Chief Justice said, while pointing out that even the number of toilets cannot be increased even though the footfall to the court building is on the rise.
The Bench also pointed out that the resolution passed in the Full Court meeting of the High Court way back in November, 2019, had pointed out requirement of a minimum of 2.2 lakh sq.ft of additional space. The Bench also said that certain branches of the court that still function from the basement floor cannot be shifted to any far away buildings as these branches are engaged in maintaining and delivering files and petitions to the court halls.
“We hope and trust that the State government, by considering all these aspects, would come out with appropriate and proper proposals,” the Bench observed while adjourning further hearing for three weeks.
The then government, in 2021, had provided some additional space for the offices of the High Court in the nearby government buildings like in the building of the Department of Technical Education.
