Retd HC Judge M F Saldana Writes Open Letter To CJ And CM Asking To Stop Construction Of HC Annexe Building Inside Cubbon Park

In an open letter written by Retired Karnataka High Court, Justice M F Saldanha, to the Chief Justice of the High Court and Chief Minister, said "The legal position is very clear that there is a total ban on construction activity, inside Cubbon park and neither the High Court nor the State Government is above the law."

Saldanha retired from the Karnataka High Court in the year 2004. The letter is in response to the State government's decision to build a seven-storied High Court Annexe building inside the Cubbon Park, which was cleared by the High Court after passing an order in October. The letter reads 'Cubbon park is much more than a mere garden. The building which are sought to be demolished are heritage buildings and they should be treated as relics. For me and for all right-thinking Bangaloreans, Cubbon Park and the trees of Bangalore and Karnataka are 'Pavitra'. We will not allow Bengaluru to become another Gas Chamber like Delhi."

The letter sent on November 6, mentions that old high court building was 1 KM long and after the new extension, the high court has approximately 2.4 KM of the built-up area apart from basements, which will have to be doubled as it extends over two storeys. "Through the ten years of my tenure as a judge I recall that huge areas in the building were either unutilized or underutilized. Files are now obsolete and the paperless working in recent times requires small and compact offices and a total overhaul of the work culture. In the course of the last 15 years, when the two benches started functioning in different parts of the state virtually two-thirds of the workload was shifted. The High Court at Bangalore has a huge shrinkage of loads consequent release of huge areas of space which needs to be reclaimed with some spring cleaning."

The letter request the High Court to order an immediate space audit by skilled professional. Further, it says that "This is our collective appeal. Recently, the Bombay High court and the state government in the Aarey case bulldozed the voice of the Citizens- we cannot let that happen here." 

Click here to download the letter