Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (DV/SP)
Kundapur, Jun 4: “The system of delivery of justice becomes easier when the people have easy access to both administrative offices and judiciary. Kundapur is one of the important taluks in the state, which are witnessing good progress. Taking note of this, the state high court and government had taken a decision to set up the additional district and sessions court here,” said Udupi district and sessions judge, B M Angadi.
He was speaking after officially inaugurating the newly started additional district and sessions court, which is located in the court complex in the town recently.
He hoped that the new court will come in handy for speedy disposal of old files. Hailing the presiding officer of the new court, Revankar, as a sincere and honest individual with humane qualities, he expressed the confidence that the common people will get justice from the new court.
Kundapur Bar Association president, A B Shetty, who presided over the meeting, expressed happiness at the setting up of the additional district and sessions court here. He said that this was one of the long-pending demands of both the courts and judges. He requested the government to address the issue of absence of an exclusive bar room for the advocates working in the local courts.
Panchayati raj scholar and lawyer, T B Shetty, recalled that the courts had started functioning here in 1882, and that several people who had worked as advocates and judges here had risen to positions of eminence at state and national levels. Some of them had also been elected as legislators, he pointed out. He said that the news of the recent cancellation of the fast track court here had dampened the spirts of the local advocates, but that the lawyers and the petitioners from the region are happy now that the government has sanctioned an additional district and sessions court to the town.
On Monday June 3, the state high court asserted that starting of an additional district court at Kundapur was in order.
Based on the recommendation of the state high court, the state government had, in the past, issued an order for making an additional district court operational in Kundapur. However, this move was resisted by Udupi District Bar Association, which petitioned the high court through a public interest litigation. The association argued that it was not proper on the part of the government to allow a district court to function in Kundapur, which is not the district headquarters. The association felt that a district court can function here only if Kundapur is made a separate district.
A division bench chaired by Justice Mohan Shanthana Goudar found no merit in the arguments of the Bar Association, and therefore, dismissed the public interest litigation. In its order, the high court pointed out that the high court had recommended for opening of the district court after finding that there was a need for the same, and that both the high court and state government have the right to take such a decision.