Gulbarga lawyers' stir losing steam, direction

By T.V.Sivanandan

GULBARGA, JULY 26. The 35-day-old-boycott of courts and picketing of Government offices by members of the Gulbarga Bar Association in support of their demand for the establishment of a permanent Bench of the High Court in Gulbarga city is losing steam and direction due to internal bickerings and lack of public support.

Faced with constant pressure from a powerful section of senior advocates and the litigants for reconsidering the decision to continue the boycott of court work indefinitely, the Bar Association in all probability will call off the agitation partially during its the general body meeting to be held on July 31.

Sources in the Bar Association told THE HINDU here today that in the meeting on July 31, the Bar Association was likely to call off the boycott and continue other forms of agitation including picketing of government offices and an indefinite relay hunger strike.

The enthusiasm of the younger elements in the Bar Association throughout the agitation has kept the agitation alive. But for the presence of the young lawyers, the agitation would have died down.

Except for a few senior lawyers such as Mr. Ustad Sadat Hussain, Mr. Baburao Mangani, Mr. Alagudkar, Mr. Iyreddy, Mr. Subash Konin, Mr. Kalyanrao Bhakshi, Mr. C.A.Patil, Mr. Biradar and Mr. D.S.Patil most of the senior lawyers were conspicuous by their absence.

Although there was sporadic support for the demand and agitation of the advocates for a permanent Bench of the High Court from the public, the support was not sustained.

The agitation suffered a setback after the Hyderabad-Karnataka High Court Peeta Kriya Samiti headed by the former Minister, Mr. S.K.Kanta, and the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti quietly withdrew from the scene after supporting the agitation and organising rasta rokos and supporting the Gulbarga bandh a few days ago.

The reason given by the samiti for having withdrawn from the agitation was the assurance given by the State Government that a decision on the High Court Bench would be taken in the July 20 Cabinet meeting. But, the Cabinet did not take any decision on the demand of the Gulbarga Bar Association and the samiti also choose to ignore the fact and withdrew into its shell.

Meanwhile, according to information available here, the State Government has indicated that it would not consider the demand for a permanent Bench of the High Court in Gulbarga at this stage, and that the sanction of a Circuit Bench in Hyderabad- Karnataka was under active consideration. (The Hubli and Dharwad Bar Associations has already rejected the offer of the State Government for establishing a Circuit Bench).

Unlike the agitation in Hubli and Dharwad, the individual political preference of advocates in Gulbarga has also contributed to the slow death of the agitation. While advocates were vociferous in condemning the Congress(I) Government in the State for not recommending the establishment of the HC Bench in Gulbarga city, there were not vocal when the State unit of the BJP presented a memorandum to the Prime Minister and pleaded for the establishment of the Bench at Hubli, which also played a decisive role in getting the favourable nod of the Union Government for setting it up at Hubli.

There was also not even a whimper of protest when the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre formally decided to recommend the case of Hubli for establishing the Bench and the office-bearers of the Bar Associations were not even ready to question of the wisdom of the Centre in choosing Hubli for establishing the bench. Although the advocates associated with the Congress(I) have not openly questioned the stand of the Bar Association, there is simmering discontent among them.

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Section  : Southern States
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