Dharwad: It has been a decade since the long-cherished dream of the people of north Karnataka became a reality. On July 7, the Dharwad bench of the Karnataka high court will celebrate its 10th anniversary.It was on July 4, 2008, the then Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan had inaugurated the high court circuit bench at Dharwad and the bench started functioning from July 7.While the demand for a permanent bench was partially fulfilled by establishing a circuit bench, the pressure for the establishment of a permanent bench mounted and the Union government and the judiciary agreed to accede to the demand. As a result, the Dharwad Circuit Bench became a permanent bench on August 24, 2013, partially fulfilling the wish of the region’s people.However, for filing PIL and writ petitions in connection with company related matters one has to approach the principal seat of the high court in Bengaluru.Having a jurisdiction over eight districts - Dharwad, Belagavi, Bagalkot, Koppal, Ballari, Haveri, Gadag and Uttara Kannada- of north Karnataka, the bench has in the last 10 years disposed of as many as 2.75 lakh cases while another 65,000 cases are awaiting disposal.When the circuit bench was established in 2008, as many as 20,000 cases from these districts pending in the high court had been transferred to Dharwad from Bengaluru.The Dharwad bench has received about 10,000-15,000 cases per year. There are 10 benches in the court but at present only five judges have been posted here. The specialty of the Dharwad bench is that it has a separate ‘High Court Advocates’ Association’.Preparations are on to celebrate the 10th anniversary in a grand manner on Thursday (July 7).The saga of struggleThe demand for the establishment of a high court bench at Dharwad was decades old. The agitation for the bench had intensified after the Justice Jaswant Singh Commission favoured the demand.With strong opposition from lawyers in Bengaluru, the fulfillment of the demand was not easy and the people of north Karnataka had to resort to agitations which at times turned violent.What was the termed as a lawyers’ movement soon became a people’s movement and the government and the high court had to accede to the demand for establishing a high court bench outside Bengaluru.However, the location of the bench became a contentious issue with several towns in North Karnataka claiming it. Finally, the government decided to set up two circuit benches at Dharwad and Kalaburagi.

Stay updated with all the Latest Hubli headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.