HC panel rules out Bench outside Bangalore

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JUNE 14. Neither Hubli-Dharwad nor any other place in North Karnataka will get a Bench of the Karnataka High Court. The five- judge committee set up by the Chief Justice of Karnataka, Mr. Y. Bhaskar Rao, has ``ruled'' against setting up of a Bench rejecting a long-standing demand of the members of the Bar and the people of North Karnataka. The Government also favoured the setting up of the Bench.

The committee, headed by Mr. Justice Ashok Bhan, held that it was neither feasible nor desirable to establish a Bench outside the principal seat (Bangalore).

The decision was conveyed to the Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, by the Chief Justice in a letter dated June 9. The decision of the committee was conveyed to a meeting of the State Cabinet here this evening.

The Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. D.B. Chandre Gowda, who briefed the press on the meeting of the Cabinet, said the Chief Justice had said that the five-judge committee was set up following a letter to him from the then Chief Minister written on July 9, 1999. It was set up to study the demand for establishing the Bench at Dharwad. Subsequently there were representations made to the committee by members of the Bar for the establishment of the Bench at Belgaum, Gulbarga, Bellary, Bijapur and Bidar. The committee heard the views expressed by leaders of the Bar of the various places and, after a thorough examination, came to the conclusion that it was neither feasible nor desirable.

Speaking for himself, the Law Minister said that it was ironical that he was conveying the decision of the High Court against the establishment of the Bench as he had given positive assurances on the issue. ``I personally feel that in the larger interest, the decision should have been otherwise.''

Revision of power tariff

An important decision taken by the Cabinet was to let the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. and the Karnataka Power Regulatory Commission arrive at a joint decision on the question of revision of power tariff. The Cabinet only considered the issue of subsidy burden on the Government in respect of the KPTCL (which according to official sources is Rs. 800 crores a year). Mr. Chandre Gowda said that as the two corporations were quasi judicial and autonomous bodies, the Government could not direct them.

The Cabinet decided against appealing the judgment of the High Court directing the Government to provide escrow cover to the private power company which has come forward to establish a barge-mounted power plant at Thanneerbhavi near Mangalore. Mr. Chandre Gowda noted that although the Cabinet decided in March last against providing escrow cover to any private power company, an exception had been made in case of the Thanneerbhavi power project as the previous Government had made a commitment in that regard. The private company had told the Court that it had already spent Rs. 204 crores on the project and the decision of the Government would lead to losses. The Court had held that it would be a breach of contract to deny escrow cover to the project.

The Cabinet accepted a report from the Corps of Detectives and decided to launch criminal action against 48 persons, including the directors of the Bidar Co-operative Sugar factory at Hallikhed for certain irregularities.

It was decided to recruit 1,726 drivers and conductors for the Bangalore Metropolitan Road Transport Corporation and another 2,019 for the North-West Karnataka Transport Corporation from among candidates who have passed the SSLC examination.

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