“Allot Bangalore Turf Club area to Judiciary and Bar Council”. Plea in Supreme Court..

Mr. S. Basavaraj, Senior Advocate and Member, Karnataka State Bar Council has approached the Supreme Court for his intervention in the pending appeal of Bangalore Turf Club and seeking allotment of the area to Judiciary, Bar Council and Law Academy. Mr. Ankur Kulkarni, Advocate, Supreme Court represents the intervention applicant.

The appeal of Bangalore Turf Club before the Supreme Court challenges the judgment of the Karnataka High Court in Writ Petition 31200/2009 and connected maters disposed on 22^nd March 2010. By the said judgment, the Karnataka High Court directed Bangalore Turf Club to vacate and deliver vacant possession of the premises where the present race course is run to the State Government. The High Court further directed the Government to develop the entire area into a mini social forest. The area occupied by Bangalore Turf Club measures about 80 acres and is located right in middle of the City.

Contents of the application: – High Court. (1) The Karnataka High Court, the highest judicial institution of the State is crumbling for want of space. The principal bench building is suffering due to lack of space to meet some of the basic necessities such as Court halls, Judges’ chambers, offices and parking space. The vision of the then Chief Justice P.C. Jain and positive response from the then Government resulted in construction of a new block facing Cubbon Park. The extension of entire building was made in 1995 that spanned across an area of 2,40,508 sq.ft, built in the same style of architecture. However, to maintain architectural integrity, the new building was built almost as an exact replica of the old building without much provision for many aspects such as required number of Court halls, Judges Chambers, Offices etc. Even the basic requirement of parking at basement level could not be made since the design of the new building was to synchronise with the old one almost in all aspects.

(2). The Karnataka High Court is currently functional in Bangalore, Dharwad and Kalaburagi. The new benches at Dharwad and Kalaburagi were inaugurated on 4 and 5 July 2008, respectively. Dharwad circuit bench became a permanent bench from 25 August 2013 and Kalaburagi circuit bench became a permanent bench from 31 August 2013. While the benches at Dharwad and Kalaburagi are spacious enough to meet the requirement, the principal bench at Bangalore is facing severe space crisis. 

(3). The sanctioned strength of the Karnataka High Court is now 62. As of now 45 Judges are appointed. Few more judges are likely to be appointed soon. Even the strength of the High Court is likely to be increased. The numbers of court halls as of now are 38 and the judges’ chambers are 40 as against the immediate requirement of 45 each. The High Court, to be fully functional, must have 62 Court halls and same number of Judges Chambers. Presently, it is impossible to add even a single Judge’s chamber let alone a court hall. One hall is cannibalised into two court halls and Judges chambers are used by rotation. About 60,000 sq.ft of area in basement is being used for various offices purposes. A public interest litigation is pending which questions usage of basement. If a decision were to be taken to vacate this area, the High Court needs another 60,000 sq.ft.

(4) The annexe building of the High Court facing Cubbon Park is a new building. However, technically it is not possible to construct any additional floors on the new annex building. As of now, only ground and first floor are constructed to synchronise with the old building. High Court building lacks built up area even for basic necessities.

(5) Karnataka State Bar Council: The Bar Council which was established in 1961 has been in search of place/building for last more than 50 years. Hitherto KSBC occupied a portion of KGID building. Even now, it does not have a space of its own forget about a standalone building. It was only in 2019 the old Election Commission building adjacent to KGID building was given to KSBC that too subject to condition that KSBC should shift when alternate accommodation is provided by the government. Being the premier most statutory body representing more than 1 lakh lawyers, KSBC must have its own building with chambers, offices and auditoriums. There is no place for Academy to conduct its programmes. Even the Bar Council enrolments are being done in the premises of the existing building in a constrained atmosphere.   

(6) The Karnataka State cabinet has already decided to shift Bangalore Turf Club. The entire land area is 85 acres and it belongs to Government. Shifting of Bangalore Turf Club is imminent. The entire area is available for a planned development with greenery ensured. The entire area can be given to Judiciary for construction of Judicial Complex. The Judicial Complex can have about 1crore square feet built-up area and the entire judicial establishments in the City of Bangalore can be accommodated in the building. The building can be a state-of-the-art structure with all judicial establishments in the city of Bangalore including High Court, Civil Court, Criminal Court, Labour Court, Family Court and all judicial establishments, auditoriums, meetings halls, chambers for lawyers, Judicial Academy, Karnataka State Bar Council, Advocates Academy, Advocates Association etc.

(7) As of now, the judicial establishments are scattered all over the city of Bangalore. To reach from one court to another is professional nightmare. A comprehensive, combined and consolidated judicial complex will be a permanent solution. If all the judicial establishments are shifted to the new Judicial Complex, about 20,00,000 square feet presently occupied by judicial establishments in the city can be made available for the Government. The Attara Kacheri can be converted as museum and the building facing Cubbon Park can be used for Law Ministry and other departments.

(8) The institution of judiciary has to be provided with own standalone buildings with sufficient space and infrastructure. It’s time to overcome constraints of Attara Kacheri with vertical construction or shift to Bangalore Turf Club area. The applicant has sought for suitable direction to the State of Karnataka to allot the area now occupied by the Bangalore Turf Club for construction of a Judicial Complex to accommodate all judicial establishments like High Court, all judicial establishments presently scattered all over the city, Karnataka State Bar Council, Law Academy and other institutions.