Former Judge Of Karnataka High Court Justice KL Manjunath Passes Away

Former Judge of the Karnataka High Court, Justice KL Manjunath passed away today due to a massive cardiac. He was 68.

Born on April 21, 1953, Justice Manjunath enrolled as an Advocate on September 13, 1974, and practiced in the High Court of Karnataka. He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Karnataka High Court on December 11, 2000, and was made a permanent Judge on October 27, 2001.

He also served as the Chairman of the Karnataka River Waters and Border Disputes Authority, and the chairman of Andhra Pradesh Backward Classes Commission

Justice Manjunath's tenure as a High Court Judge was marred by controversies. In the year 2014, the central government had sent back the Supreme Court collegium's recommendation to transfer him to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and thereafter, the then CJI-RM Lodha led SC collegium had not reiterated its recommendation.

In September 2014, three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs including Bhagwant Mann, Sadhu Singh, and Harinder Singh Khalsa had even started a signature campaign to initiate impeachment proceedings against him on the allegation that abused his position to amass several movable and immovable properties worth crores of rupees, disproportionate to his known sources of income.

In 2015, Justice Manjunath had, in his retirement speech (could be read here), raised several questions about his non-elevation as Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court in 2013, stating that when he had acquired seniority, a 'wild campaign' started against him by sitting judges to ruin his career.