Strengthening Karnataka High Court: Six Advocates Recommended as Judges
(By Syed Ali Taher Abedi)
NEW DELHI / BENGALURU — In a development of institutional consequence, the Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of six senior advocates to the Bench of the Karnataka High Court.
The Collegium approved the names at its meeting on June 2, 2026, a step that advances constitutional processes under Article 217 and seeks to alleviate the chronic strain of vacancies that has long taxed one of India’s busiest High Courts.
The recommended names are:
- Raghavendra Seetharam Srivatsa
- Hema Kulkarni
- Subramanya Rangarao
- Thadagavadi Prakash Vivekananda
- Bakkeswara Pramod
- Hombe Gowda Shanthi Bhushan
Each appointee brings years of courtroom practice and specialised expertise before both High Courts and the Supreme Court.
Their elevation from advocate to judge marks not merely a professional milestone but a solemn constitutional transition assuming the judicial office entails an oath to adjudicate with impartiality, independence, and fidelity to the rule of law.
The recommendation emanated from the Collegium constituted by the Chief Justice of India alongside the two senior-most Judges of the Supreme Court the constitutional body entrusted, through a line of jurisprudence culminating in the post‑Three Judges Cases era, with primacy in judicial appointments.
While debates on procedural transparency and reform continue, the collegium remains the operative mechanism for selecting candidates for the higher judiciary.
Following the Collegium’s resolution, the file will proceed to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice for administrative processing.
The Government, after obtaining mandatory security-clearance inputs from the Intelligence Bureau and completing requisite formalities, will place the recommendations before the President for the issuance of warrants of appointment.
Upon formalisation, the newly designated judges will take their oaths before the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court and assume judicial duties.
Headquartered in Bengaluru with permanent benches at Dharwad and Kalaburagi, the Karnataka High Court presides over an extensive and complex caseload constitutional petitions, writs, civil and criminal appeals, service matters, corporate disputes, and more. Chronic vacancies have contributed to rising pendency and delays that affect litigants’ access to timely justice.
The proposed infusion of six judges is expected to strengthen the Court’s adjudicatory capacity, distribute workload more evenly, and expedite the disposal of matters that have awaited adjudication.
The Collegium’s choice of advocates, rather than exclusively promoting from the judicial services, underscores an institutional recognition of the distinct value that seasoned practitioners bring to the Bench.
Advocates elevated to judgeship often contribute deep, practice‑based insights, nuanced advocacy experience, and specialised knowledge that can sharpen judicial analysis and courtroom management.
Members of the Bar and judicial observers are likely to welcome the move as a constructive response to a persistent administrative challenge. Beyond numerical reinforcement, these appointments carry symbolic weight they reaffirm the continuance of constitutional processes that sustain judicial independence and institutional resilience.
For litigants and counsel in Karnataka, an expanded Bench holds the promise of improved hearing schedules and a swifter march toward finality in adjudication.
As the constitutional machinery moves forward with clearances and the President’s formal warrants, the elevation process will close one chapter of collegium deliberations and open another the quieter but exacting chapter of judicial service, in which the new judges will be called upon to interpret law, resolve disputes, and uphold the constitutional guarantee of justice for all.
