| Court Name: | High Court of Karnataka ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಉಚ್ಚ ನ್ಯಾಯಾಲಯ Karnāṭaka Ućća Nyāyālaya |
| Jurisdiction: | Karnataka |
| Location: | Principal bench Additional benches |
| Coordinates: | 12.9779°N 77.5926°W |
| Type: | Presidential appointment on advice of the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of Karnataka. |
| Authority: | Constitution of India |
| Terms: | Mandatory retirement at age 62 |
| Positions: | 62 |
| Language: | Kannada, English |
| Website: | karnatakajudiciary.kar.nic.in |
| Chiefjudgetitle: | Chief Justice |
| Chiefjudgename: | Nilay Vipinchandra Anjaria |
| Termstart: | 25 February 2024 |
The High Court of Karnataka (IAST: Karnāṭaka Ućća Nyāyālaya, commonly called the Karnataka High Court and formerly Mysore High Court) is the High Court of the Indian state of Karnataka and thus its highest judicial authority. The court's principal bench is located in Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka, with additional benches in Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi. It was previously called the High Court of Mysore. In Bengaluru, the High Court functions out of a red-painted brick building known as the Attara Kacheri, located opposite the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the Karnataka Legislature.
The High Court is composed of the Chief Justice of Karnataka and other judges. Judges are appointed by the President of India.[1] As of February 2022, there are 45 judges in the High Court,[2] out of a sanctioned maximum strength of 62.[3] Nilay Vipinchandra Anjaria is the Chief Justice since 25 February 2024.
The High Court is the highest judicial authority within the State of Karnataka. It has superintendence over all courts and tribunals, such as district courts, operating within Karnataka, except those of the armed forces.[4] [5] Appeals against judgments of lower courts, such as district-level civil and sessions courts, are heard in the High Court. Appeals against judgments of the High Court are heard by the Supreme Court of India.
The High Court is a court of record and can prosecute for contempt of itself.[6]
The Karnataka High court has two permanent benches at Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi. The permanent Karnataka high court bench at Hubballi-Dharwada became operational on 24 August 2013 and Kalaburagi on 31 August 2013.[7] Before operational of permanent high court benches, Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi had circuit benches of Karnataka High Court from the year 2008. Hubballi-Dharwada bench of Karnataka High Court was inaugurated by then Chief Justice of India K.G.Balakrishnan on 4 July 2008 and became operational from 7 July 2008 A.D.[8]
See main article: Attara Kacheri. The High Court's principal bench is located in Bengaluru, in a building called the Attara Kacheri. It is a wide two-storied building of stone and brick, painted red, in the neoclassical style of architecture. It was constructed between 1864 and 1868.[9] It is located in Bengaluru's Cubbon Park. There was a proposal to demolish this building in the year 1982.[10] A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the High Court pleading to stop the demolition. This was the first PIL to be filed in the court, and the case was heard in the same building that was supposed to be demolished.[11] The petition was struck down by the High Court, but the proposal to demolish the building was dropped in 1985 when the Supreme Court asked the state government to reconsider demolition.
Lord Cubbon, the then Viceroy of Colonial India was responsible for building Attara Kacheri. a building is Greco-Roman styled architecture with red paint, sprawling vast space with a distinguished mark at the center. A portion of the High Court building stood as Attara Kacheri, which housed public offices in the Mysore Kingdom era.
The building now has the entrance from the side opposite to the Vidhana Soudha, which was actually the rear side of the estewhile Attara Kacheri. Over an hundred years later, when this building became the High Court to award justice to lakhs of people the potential weakness of the building due to ageing and wear and tear, the building was deemed close to demolition a quite a number of times, during Kengal Hanumanthaiah tenure and also in 1984 to bring a new structure in the same place. There had been protests and backlashes on that proposal for dismantling of the colonial structure from the citizens. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed, which was dismissed by the High Court. The petition went on to the Supreme Court. At the same time, the Government on the concerns of the citizen, stepped back from the decision decided to expand the High Court Building to suite the progressive requirement. The government of Karnataka had assigned this job to the engineers of PWD,[12] and preparations were made to start renovation of the High Court in 1986 to renovate the old structure and also build a new parallel structure in the same style to the erstwhile Attara Kacheri. Eventually, in 1990s the Karnataka Government rejuvenated the old Attara Kacheri building with an extension of a new blocks along with the existing building. During this time, the old building structure was strengthened to suite the requirement. A plaque has been installed during the inauguration of the Northern Block, and was inaugurated by Lokayuktha Venkatachala.[13]
Judges of the court, E. S. Venkataramiah, M. N. Venkatachaliah, S. Rajendra Babu and H.L. Dattu, went on to become Chief Justices of India[14] and others including Kalmanje Jagannatha Shetty, N. Venkatachala, R. V. Raveendran, Shivaraj Patil, Venkate Gopala Gowda, A.S Bopanna,Mohan Shantanagoudar, S. Abdul Nazeer, A. S. Oka and B. V. Nagarathna were appointed as judges in the Supreme Court of India.[15]
P Mahadevayya, M Sadasivayya, Nittoor Srinivasa Rau, Sam Piroj Bharucha and G. T. Nanavati were some notable Chief Justices who presided over this court.
| N | Chief Justice | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles George Plumer | 1884 – July 1890 | |
| 2 | Sir T. R. A. Thumboo Chetty | July 1890 – 4 November 1895 | |
| 3 | James William Best | 4 November 1895 – 1907 | |
| 4 | Stanley Ismay | 1908–1912 | |
| 5 | P. Mahadevayya | 1931–1934 | |
| 6 | Justice Palecanda Belliappa Medapa | 1948 -1955 |
| Chief Justice | Term | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R. Venkataramaiah | 1 November 1956 – 16 July 1957 | |
| 2 | S. R. Das Gupta | 25 July 1957 – 13 August 1961 | |
| 3 | Nittoor Srinivasa Rau | 29 March 1962 – 7 August 1963 | |
| 4 | 23 November 1969 – 29 December 1969 | ||
| 5 | M. Sadasivayya | 30 December 1969 – 16 September 1970 | |
| 6 | A. Narayana Pai | 17 September 1970 – 6 June 1973 | |
| 7 | G. K. Govinda Bhat | 7 June 1973 – 14 December 1977 | |
| 8 | D. M. Chandrashekar | 22 March 1978 – 25 September 1982 | |
| 9 | K. Bhimaiah | 28 October 1982 – 10 April 1983 | |
| 10 | V. S. Malimath | 6 February 1984 – 24 October 1985 | |
| 11 | Prem Chand Jain | 28 August 1986 – 16 September 1989 | |
| 12 | S. Mohan | 26 October 1989 – 7 October 1991 | |
| 13 | S. P. Bharucha | 1 January 1991 – 30 June 1992 | |
| 14 | S. B. Majumdar | 2 July 1993 – 13 September 1994 | |
| 15 | G. T. Nanavati | 28 September 1994 – 4 March 1995 | |
| 16 | M. L. Pendse | 28 July 1995 – 25 March 1996 | |
| 17 | S. A. Hakeem | 3 May 1996 – 9 May 1996 | |
| 18 | R. P. Sethi | 29 June 1996 – 6 January 1999 | |
| 19 | 9 March 1999 – 26 June 2000 | ||
| 20 | P. V. Reddi | 21 October 2000 – 16 August 2001 | |
| 21 | Nagendra Kumar Jain | 31 August 2001 – 20 October 2004 | |
| 22 | N. K. Sodhi | 19 November 2004 – 29 November 2005 | |
| 23 | Cyriac Joseph | 7 January 2006 – 6 July 2008 | |
| 24 | P. D. Dinakaran | 8 August 2008 – 7 August 2010 | |
| 25 | Jagdish Singh Khehar | 8 August 2010 – 12 September 2011 | |
| 26 | Vikramajit Sen | 24 December 2011 – 24 December 2012 | |
| 27 | Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela | 7 March 2013 – 1 June 2015 | |
| 28 | Subhro Kamal Mukherjee | 23 February 2016– 9 October 2017 | |
| 29 | Dinesh Maheshwari | 12 February 2018 – 17 January 2019 | |
| 30 | Abhay Shreeniwas Oka | 10 May 2019 – 30 August 2021 | |
| 31 | Ritu Raj Awasthi | 11 October 2021 – 2 July 2022 | |
| 32 | Prasanna B. Varale | 15 October 2022 – 24 January 2024 | |
| 33 | P. S. Dinesh Kumar | 3 February 2024 – 24 February 2024 | |
| 34 | Nilay Vipinchandra Anjaria | 25 February 2024 – Incumbent |
The current sitting judges of the court are as follows:[16]
| Name | Position | From | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nilay Vipinchandra Anjaria | Chief Justice | 21 November 2011 | |
| 2 | K. Somashekar | Permanent Judge | 14 November 2016 | |
| 3 | Kottravva Somappa Mudagal | Permanent Judge | 14 November 2016 | |
| 4 | Sreenivas Harish Kumar | Permanent Judge | 14 November 2016 | |
| 5 | Hosur Bhujangaraya Prabhakara Sastry | Permanent Judge | 21 February 2017 | |
| 6 | Krishna Shripad Dixit | Permanent Judge | 14 February 2018 | |
| 7 | Shankar Ganapathi Pandit | Permanent Judge | 14 February 2018 | |
| 8 | R. Devdas | Permanent Judge | 14 February 2018 | |
| 9 | Bhotanhosur Mallikarjuna Shyam Prasad | Permanent Judge | 14 February 2018 | |
| 10 | Siddappa Sunil Dutt Yadav | Permanent Judge | 14 February 2018 | |
| 11 | Mohammad Nawaz | Permanent Judge | 2 June 2018 | |
| 12 | Harekoppa Thimmana Gowda Narendra Prasad | Permanent Judge | 2 June 2018 | |
| 13 | Hethur Puttaswamygowda Sandesh | Permanent Judge | 3 November 2018 | |
| 14 | Krishnan Natarajan | Permanent Judge | 3 November 2018 | |
| 15 | S.R. Krishna Kumar | Permanent Judge | 23 September 2019 | |
| 16 | Ashok Subhashchandra Kinagi | Permanent Judge | 23 September 2019 | |
| 17 | Suraj Govindaraj | Permanent Judge | 23 September 2019 | |
| 18 | Sachin Shankar Magadum | Permanent Judge | 23 September 2019 | |
| 19 | Neranahalli Srinivasan Sanjay Gowda | Permanent Judge | 11 November 2019 | |
| 20 | Jyoti Mulimani | Permanent Judge | 11 November 2019 | |
| 21 | Nataraj Rangaswamy | Permanent Judge | 11 November 2019 | |
| 22 | Hemant Chandangoudar | Permanent Judge | 11 November 2019 | |
| 23 | Pradeep Singh Yerur | Permanent Judge | 11 November 2019 | |
| 24 | Maheshan Nagaprasanna | Permanent Judge | 26 November 2019 | |
| 25 | Maralur Indrakumar Arun | Permanent Judge | 7 January 2020 | |
| 26 | Engalaguppe Seetharamaiah Indiresh | Permanent Judge | 7 January 2020 | |
| 27 | Ravi Venkappa Hosmani | Permanent Judge | 7 January 2020 | |
| 28 | Savanur Vishwajith Shetty | Permanent Judge | 28 April 2020 | |
| 29 | Lalitha Kanneganti | Permanent Judge | 2 May 2020 | |
| 30 | Shivashankar Amarannavar | Permanent Judge | 4 May 2020 | |
| 31 | Makkimane Ganeshaiah Uma | Permanent Judge | 4 May 2020 | |
| 32 | Vedavyasachar Srishananda | Permanent Judge | 4 May 2020 | |
| 33 | Hanchate Sanjeevkumar | Permanent Judge | 4 May 2020 | |
| 34 | M. G. Shukure Kamal | Permanent Judge | 17 March 2021 | |
| 35 | Rajendra Badamikar | Permanent Judge | 25 March 2021 | |
| 36 | Khazi Jaibunnisa Mohiuddin | Permanent Judge | 25 March 2021 | |
| 37 | Chillakur Sumalatha | Permanent Judge | 15 October 2021 | |
| 38 | Anant Ramanath Hegde | Permanent Judge | 8 November 2021 | |
| 39 | Siddaiah Rachaiah | Additional Judge | 8 November 2021 | |
| 40 | Kannakuzhyil Sreedharan Hemalekha | Permanent Judge | 8 November 2021 | |
| 41 | Cheppudira Monappa Poonacha | Additional Judge | 13 June 2022 | |
| 42 | Anil Bheemsen Katti | Additional Judge | 16 August 2022 | |
| 43 | Gurusiddaiah Basavaraja | Additional Judge | 16 August 2022 | |
| 44 | Chandrashekhar Mrutyunjaya Joshi | Additional Judge | 16 August 2022 | |
| 45 | Umesh Manjunathbhat Adiga | Additional Judge | 16 August 2022 | |
| 46 | Talkad Girigowda Shivashankare Gowda | Additional Judge | 16 August 2022 | |
| 47 | Ramachandra Dattatray Huddar | Additional Judge | 24 January 2023 | |
| 48 | Venkatesh Naik Thavaryanaik | Additional Judge | 24 January 2023 | |
| 49 | Vijaykumar Adagouda Patil | Additional Judge | 9 February 2023 | |
| 50 | Rajesh Rai Kallangala | Additional Judge | 9 February 2023 | |
| 51 | K. V. Aravind | Additional Judge | 25 October 2023 |
The Karnataka High Court is currently functional in Bengaluru, Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi. There was a long-standing demand for an additional bench as the location of Bengaluru in south-east corner of the state caused hardship for people visiting the High Court from the distant northern regions of the state. This issue led to agitation, including boycott of court proceedings by lawyers in the northern region. The demand was finally met in the year 2006 when it was decided that circuit benches of the High Court would be set up in Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi.[17] The new branches were inaugurated on 4 and 5 July 2008, respectively. There was later demand to make both Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi benches permanent. Consequently, Hubballi-Dharwadaa circuit bench became a permanent bench from 25 August 2013 and Kalaburagi circuit bench became a permanent bench from 31 August 2013.
In late 2002, 14 newspapers and periodicals reported that some judges from the High Court of Karnataka were allegedly involved in a sex scandal in Mysore. A high-level judicial inquiry committee was established by the Chief Justice. Later, the committee acquitted the judges as they could not find any substantive evidence.[18] [19] [20]
About 2.7 lakh cases were pending in Karnataka High Court as on 2023 which is suffering from a serious backlog of cases, inability to follow Karnataka Civil Procedures and its inability to deliver speedy justice.[21]
There are about 20 Lakhs cases pending in the state as on August 2024 for which the High Court becomes the custodian of final justice.[22]