Karnataka High Court building , Bangalore - a legacy of the British era


Attara Katcheri, Bangalore (Early 1900s), Tucks Post Carden. en.wikipedia.org

The Karnataka High Court,Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka is a popular red brick building called Atttara Katcheri. Located  opposite to Vidhana Soudha  where the Karnataka legislature is functioning, the history of the High Court goes back to the year 1884 when the Chief Court of Mysore was created with three judges and was designated as the highest court of appeal. District, Magistrate , Sub-courts, etc were operating there to handle many civil cases, etc. In 1881, the office of the Chief Judge was created with full authority in matters of law.
In 1930, it became  High Court of Mysore and the Chief Judge was given the new name of Chief Justice and it was in 1973 the court was renamed the Karnataka High Court. The Karnataka High Court is currently functional in Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad and Gulbarga.

The High Court  building came up in 1868 under the supervision of
Rao Bahadur Arcot Narayanaswami Mudaliar. The two-storied building of stone and brick, painted red is built, in the Graeco-Roman style of architecture  with impressive Ionic porticoes at the center and at the two ends of the elevation.  In the early stages, it was only a public building and subsequently  eighteen departments in the general and revenue secretariat of the Mysore Government were moved over tonspacious offices  here from their crowded premises in Tipu Sultan's summer palace. Hence the name Attara Katcheri.  

Karnataka High Court bldg. Bangalore.ww.skyscrapercity.com 
Karnataka High Court bldg. Bangalore.ww.skyscrapercity.com

Cubbons' successor Bowring, Commissioner of Bangalore  was not happy with the congested office accommodation in the old Tipu's palace and he preferred much more spacious roomy offices with better ventilation to work efficiently to deal with increased administrative work. The credit goes to Bowring who was very particular about  a full-fledged secretariat building in the city area. The construction began  in 1864 and completed in 1868 at a cost of Rs. 4.5 lakhs.

Commissioner of Bangalore bowring. en.wikipedia.org/

 Above image:  Lewin Bentham Bowring (1824–1910) was a British civil servant in India who served as commissioner of Mysore between 1862 and 1870. He was also an author and man of letters. Image:  Unknown - Chetty, T. Rayalu (1910) A brief sketch of the life of Raja Dharma Pravina T.R.A. Thambu Chetti. ............................................

The politicians and others in 1982 wanted this beautiful, historical building demolished for good here was a proposal to demolish this building in the year 1982. Thank God, Justices M. N. Venkatachaliah and Vittal Rao in August 1984 who heard the first PIL case( public interest litigation ) pronounced a judgement that stayed the demolition and closed the case..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnataka_High_Court