Post Hunger-Strike By Lawyers, Centre Notifies The Appointment Of 5 New Judges In Karnataka HC [Read Notification]

The Centre, on Friday, notified the appointment of five Judges to Karnataka High Court, after Advocates Association of Bangalore, the Karnataka State Bar Council and several designated senior Advocates had initiated a hunger strike on Monday protesting the vacancies.

Those appointed to the High Court are- Krishna S. Dixit, Shankar Ganapathi Pandit, Ramakrishna Devdas, B.M. Shyam Prasad,  and S. Sunil Dutt Yadav. While Krishna Dixit was the Additional Solicitor General of India in the Karnataka High Court, R. Devdas and B.M. Shyam Prasad were Senior Advocates.

The lawyers had launched the strike on Monday, highlighting the fact that more than 60% of the posts of the High Court are currently lying vacant. Even though the Court has been functioning with 24 Judges as against a sanctioned strength of 62, the last appointment, they said, was made in February, 2017.

Following this, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda along with Advocates’ Association of Bengaluru President A.P. Ranganath had met President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday, and had submitted a representation demanding that the pending recommendations be cleared by him. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the ongoing crisis.

The lawyers, however, suspended their strike, with these appointments coming as signs of progress in filling up the vacancies.