New Karnataka High Court Building State To Allocate Bangalore Turf Club Land

The state government Monday informed the Karnataka High Court that it will soon pass a resolution allocating Bangalore Turf Club land for the construction of a new high court building.

Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty informed the high court about the government’s decision orally during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Sharan Desai, who sought a direction to the state government to grant 30 or more acres of land in Bengaluru, for the construction of a new high court building complex.

During the hearing, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K S Hemalekha permitted the request made by Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty to relist the matter after a month so that he could place on record further details.

The bench on the previous hearing had orally observed that the building to be constructed should be able to cater to the needs for at least the next 30 to 50 years. The bench has now posted the matter for further hearing on August 28.

In February, the Karnataka Cabinet had approved leasing 110 acres and 20 guntas of land at Kunigal Stud Farm near Tumakuru to the Bangalore Turf Club for 29 years to conduct horse racing.

A petition has been filed challenging the proposed shift. The high court had earlier issued notice on the petition and sought the state government’s response.

The petition was filed by urban conservationist Vijay Nishanth, claiming that the impugned order of shifting is vitiated by the complete non-application of the Environment Impact Assessment notification, 2006.

On October 26 last year, Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who was then deputy chief minister, had said during a citizen outreach event held at Cubbon Park that the Karnataka government was exploring the possibility of relocating the high court to a new and larger site.

The present building where the high court is functioning is called ‘Attara Kacheri’ and is located inside the lawns of Cubbon Park, opposite Vidhana Soudha, which houses the State Legislature, and the Secretariat.

The Attara Kacheri originally comprised the general and revenue secretariat of the erstwhile Mysore state. It was renamed as the High Court of Mysore in 1929. The administrative offices of the state also functioned in the Attara Kacheri till 1956, when they were shifted to Vidhana Soudha.