Dharwad: The Dharwad Bench of the Karnataka High Court witnessed a historic all-women court proceeding on Saturday.The advocate general’s office had issued an order appointing an all-women team of law officers to represent the state govt before special all-women benches. In what is being seen as a significant moment in the state’s judicial history, women led proceedings on both sides of the courtroom. While women judges presided over cases, women government advocates argued on behalf of the state. The legal team was led by additional advocate general Pratima Honnapur. Additional govt advocates Nandini Somapur, Pramodini Kishan, Savitramma, BP Radha, Sunita Sequeira, Mamata Shetty, Mala B Bhute, V Hemalatha, RK Pratibha, and govt advocates V Sphoorthi, Girija Hiremath, Rashmi Patel, Rashmi Rao, Keerthilatha Patil, Ratnamala, S Chandani, R Soumya, Waheeda and Deepti Alva were part of the team.Justice Anu Sivaraman and Justice KG Shanthi conducted proceedings in court hall No. 2, where division bench writ and civil matters, except those assigned to other benches, were listed for preliminary hearing, admission, orders and final hearing.Justice Jyoti M and Justice P Sree Sudha presided over court hall No. 3, which handled miscellaneous first appeals, writ appeals relating to labour, service and KVOA matters, and division bench tax matters.In court hall No. 4, Justice Lalitha Kanneganti and Justice KS Hemalekha heard miscellaneous first appeals arising from family court matters, writ appeals and writ petitions relating to KSAT matters. Justice Chillakur Sumalatha presided over court hall No. 5, hearing service and labour writ petitions and family court revision petitions.Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju dealt with writ petitions related to GM-CPC and education matters in court hall No. 6. Justice Geetha KB heard miscellaneous first appeals, arbitration petitions, enforcement of foreign arbitral award matters and commercial suits in court hall No. 7.In court hall No. 8, Justice Rajeshwari N Hegde handled all categories of criminal matters and civil cases not assigned to other benches, covering preliminary hearings, admissions, orders and final hearings.
