HC disposes petition challenging appointment of judge as special court judicial member

The High Court of Karnataka on Friday disposed of a petition challenging the appointment of judge C G Hungund as Judicial Member of the Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Special Court.

The petition challenging the appointment was withdrawn by the petitioner following which the case was disposed of.

The state government had removed Hungund from the post and, therefore, it was not necessary to proceed with the petition, the petitioner said in a memo filed before the court.

“The petitioner in the matter most humbly submits that during the pendency of the writ petition, the government has issued the order removing the fourth respondent from the post of judicial member by its order dated 21.09.2023 and the same has been communicated to the undersigned recently,” petitioner Umapathi said in his memo filed before the division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit.

The memo further said, “The relief sought in the petition is fulfilled and the matter may be treated as disposed of in the interest of justice and equity.” Placing the memo on record, the HC disposed of the petition.

The PIL filed by advocate Umapathi S challenging the appointment order dated 21.10.2022 claimed that the retired district judge was ineligible for the post. It was claimed that since Hungund had already served as a member of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission between 2012 and 2017, he cannot be appointed to another quasi-judicial forum.

The division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice MGS Kamal had issued notice to the government in this regard earlier in August 2023.