Consensus evades Bar associations

By Our Special Correspondent

HUBLI, JULY 1. For the first time since the agitation for the High Court was launched here, the demand got the focus on the need to fulfil it. This was the outcome of the much-awaited meeting of the President and Secretaries of the Bar associations of north Karnataka held here on Saturday under the auspices of the Bar Association of Hubli.

In an unanimous resolution, the meeting demanded that the Bench should be established in the region. The consensus was that the contentious issue of the location should be left to a competent authority such as the High Court or the Government. Some members also said that it should be decided among the bar associations themselves.

The meeting decided to form a steering committee comprising the presidents and secretaries of the Bar associations to chalk out a plan of action and take the issue to its logical conclusion.

The meeting was attended by representatives of 30 Bar associations in the region, including Belgaum and Bijapur. While the Bellary Bar Association sent a message expressing solidarity with the decision taken, the Gulbarga Bar Association had conveyed that it would not be represented at the meeting.

It was decided at the meeting that members of the steering committee should visit Gulbarga and other cities, which had not sent their nominees to elicit their cooperation on grounds that the chance of their demand being met lay more in the united approach.

The theme for the meeting was set by Mr. H.R.Patil, former Chairman of the State Bar Council who moved a resolution demanding the establishment of the Bench in the north Karnataka and wanted that the same be endorsed by members present.

Mr. C.R.Patil, President of the Bar Association of Hubli, told the meeting as to how the issue had been raised on different fora with the Centre making it clear that there was no dispute about Hubli-Dharwad being the location for the Bench.

He said the consent given by the then Chief Justice, Mr. D.M.Chandrasekhar in 1979, was still valid and he had told the five-member committee of the judges that it had no jurisdiction to go back or review the consent already given.

Mr. T.N.Sanikop, a senior advocate, who led a contingent of the Belgaum Bar Association, endorsing the demand for putting an united face, said the row over location should be settled through mutual discussion. Pleading the case for Belgaum should not be construed as opposition to the location of the Bench in Hubli- Dharwad.

Belgaum, he said, needed the break, because it had been "oppressed" by the Marathi-speaking people, who were placing obstacles for any kind of development. "We have none to plead our case, the Government, the ministers and others," Mr. Sanikop said. Mr. Sanikop was sore over the unilateral decision taken by the State Cabinet favouring Hubli-Dharwad as venue for the Bench, without consulting others.

Mr. A.H.Mangammanavar, President of the Bijapur Bar Association, said Bijapur was ideally suited for the Bench and it had satisfied many of the criteria laid down by the Jaswant Singh Commission which included the historical background too. Bijapur was the first to support the case for Hubli being the headquarters of the South-Western Zone railway headquarters and Hubli should reciprocate the gesture by accepting Bijapur's plea for the Bench, he said.

Mr. V.N.Shanbhag of the Bar Association Kumta in Uttara Kannada District, said the Bench should be located in Hubli only. One should go beyond the geographical location in deciding the location of the Bench and Hubli-Dharwad filled the bill admirably.

Mr. B.D.Hiremath, President of the Dharwad Bar Association, said the need of the hour was to have a Bench in north Karnataka.

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