The High Court of Karnataka (IAST: Karnāṭaka Ućća Nyāyālaya, commonly referred to as the Karnataka High Court and formerly known as the Mysore High Court, is the highest judicial authority of the Indian state of Karnataka. The court's principal bench is located in Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka, with additional benches in Hubballi-Dharwad and Kalaburagi. In Bengaluru, the High Court operates from a red-painted brick building known as the Attara Kacheri, located opposite the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the Karnataka Legislature.

Composition The High Court is composed of the Chief Justice of Karnataka and other judges, who are appointed by the President of India. As of February 2022, there are 45 judges in the High Court,High Court of Karnataka - Profile of sitting judges against a sanctioned maximum strength of 62. Valluri Kameswar Rao has been the Acting Chief Justice since 30 May 2025.

Powers and jurisdiction The High Court is the highest judicial authority within the State of Karnataka. It has superintendence over all courts and tribunals, such as district courts, operating within Karnataka, except those of the armed forces. Appeals against judgments of lower courts, such as district-level civil and sessions courts, are heard in the High Court. Appeals against judgments of the High Court are heard by the Supreme Court of India.

The High Court is a court of record and has the authority to prosecute for contempt of itself.

The Karnataka High Court has permanent benches at Hubballi-Dharwada (operational on 24 August 2013) and Kalaburagi (operational on 31 August 2013). Prior to the establishment of permanent benches, Hubballi-Dharwada and Kalaburagi had circuit benches of Karnataka High Court starting in 2008. The Hubballi-Dharwada bench was inaugurated by then Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan on 4 July 2008 and became operational on 7 July 2008. Premises

The High Court's principal bench is located in Bengaluru, in a building called the Attara Kacheri. It is a two-storey building made of stone and brick, painted red, in the neoclassical style. The building was constructed between 1864 and 1868 and is located in Bengaluru's Cubbon Park.

In 1982, it was proposed to demolish this building. A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the High Court to prevent demolition. This was the first PIL ever filed in the court, and the case was heard in the same building that was supposed to be demolished. The petition was dismissed by the High Court, but in 1985 the proposal to demolish the building was dropped after the Supreme Court directed the state government to reconsider demolition.

Heritage Lord Cubbon, the then Viceroy of Colonial India was responsible for building Attara Kacheri. The building features Greco-Roman styled architecture with red paint and a sprawling expansive layout, marked by a distinguished central structure. A portion of the High Court building served as Attara Kacheri, during the Mysore Kingdom era, housing various public offices.

The entrance of the Attara Kacheri building now faces the side opposite to the Vidhana Soudha, which was originally the rear side of the former Attara Kacheri. Over a hundred years later, when the building became the High Court, it began to show signs of age and wear. This led to the proposal for its demolition during the tenure of Kengal Hanumanthaiah and again in 1984, when there was a plan to replace it with a new structure. These proposals faced significant protests from citizens who opposed dismantling the colonial-era building.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed, but the High Court dismissed the petition. The case was subsequently taken to the Supreme Court. In consideration of the public concerns, the government decided not to demolish the building but instead to renovate and expand it to meet modern needs. The government of Karnataka assigned the task to the engineers of the Public Works Department (PWD).Dayananda, Prof. N. Justice N Venkatachala - The Tireless Crusader. pp. 143-165 Preparations began in 1986 to renovate the old structure and add a new parallel block, designed in the same style as the original Attara Kacheri.

In 1990s, the Karnataka Government successfully rejuvenated the Attara Kacheri building, adding new blocks alongside the existing structure. The old building was reinforced to accommodate the updated requirements. The Northern Block was formally Inaugurated by Lokayuktha Venkatachala, with a plaque installed during the event.Iyer, Meera (2019) Discovering Bengaluru. pp. 98-99

Chief Justice and Judges

The current sitting judges of the court are as follows:

List of Chief Justices P. Mahadevayya, M. Sadasivayya, Nittoor Srinivasa Rau, Sam Piroj Bharucha and G. T. Nanavati were among the notable Chief Justices who presided over this court.

List of former Chief Justices High Court of Mysore NChief JusticeTerm1Charles George Plumer1884 – July 18902Sir T. R. A. Thumboo Chetty July 1890 – 4 November 18953James William Best4 November 1895 – 19074Stanley Ismay1908–19125P. Mahadevayya1931–19346Palecanda Belliappa Medapa 1948 - 10 April 1955

High Court of Karnataka #PortraitChief JusticeTerm1Rudrapatna Venkataramaiah1 November 1956 – 16 July 19572Subodh Ranjan Das Gupta25 July 1957 – 13 August 19613Nittoor Srinivasa Rau29 March 1962 – 7 August 19634Arni Ramasvami Somanath Iyer 23 November 1969 – 29 December 19695Mahadevayya Sadasivayya 30 December 1969 – 16 September 19706Ammembal Narayana Pai17 September 1970 – 6 June 19737Guthu Konethota Govinda Bhat7 June 1973 – 14 December 19778Deshmudre Mallappa Chandrashekhar22 March 1978 – 25 September 19829Koratagere Bhimaiah28 October 1982 – 10 April 198310Vijaykumar Siddheshwaraswami Malimath6 February 1984 – 24 October 198511Prem Chand Jain28 August 1986 – 16 September 198912Shanmughasundaram Mohan26 October 1989 – 7 October 199113Sam Piroj Bharucha1 January 1991 – 30 June 199214Shailesh Bhadrayulal Majumdar2 July 1993 – 13 September 199415Girish Thakorlal Nanavati28 September 1994 – 4 March 199516Madhav Laxman Pendse28 July 1995 – 25 March 199617Syed Abdul Hakeem3 May 1996 – 9 May 199618Ram Prakash Sethi29 June 1996 – 6 January 199919Yarabati Bhaskar Rao 9 March 1999 – 26 June 200020Ponaka Venkatarama Reddi21 October 2000 – 16 August 200121Nagendra Kumar Jain31 August 2001 – 20 October 200422Nauvdip Kumar Sodhi19 November 2004 – 29 November 200523Cyriac Joseph7 January 2006 – 6 July 200824Paul Daniel Dinakaran Premkumar8 August 2008 – 7 August 201025Jagdish Singh Khehar8 August 2010 – 12 September 201126Vikramajit Sen24 December 2011 – 24 December 201227Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela7 March 2013 – 1 June 201528Subhro Kamal Mukherjee 23 February 2016– 9 October 201729Dinesh Maheshwari 12 February 2018 – 17 January 201930Abhay Shreeniwas Oka10 May 2019 – 30 August 202131Ritu Raj Awasthi11 October 2021 – 2 July 202232Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale15 October 2022 – 24 January 202433Pratinidhi Srinivasacharya Dinesh Kumar3 February 2024 – 24 February 202434Nilay Vipinchandra Anjaria25 February 2024 – 29 May 202535Vibhu Bakhru19 July 2025 – Incumbent

Judges elevated as Chief Justices

This sections contains list of only those judges elevated as chief justices whose parent high court is Karnataka. This includes those judges who, at the time of appointment as chief justice, may not be serving in Karnataka High Court but this list does not include judges who at the time of appointment as chief justice were serving in Karnataka High Court but does not have Karnataka as their Parent High Court.

Colour Key

Symbol Key Elevated to Supreme Court of India Resigned Died in office NameImageAppointed as CJ in HC ofDate of appointmentDate of retirementTenureRef..As JudgeAs Chief JusticeAs Chief JusticeAs JudgeRudrapatna VenkataramaiahKarnatakaNittoor Srinivasa RauKarnatakaArni Ramasvami Somanath IyerKarnatakaMahadevayya SadasivayyaKarnatakaKowdoor Sadananda HegdeDelhiAmmembal Narayana PaiKarnatakaGuthu Konethota Govinda BhatKarnatakaDeshmudre Mallappa ChandrashekharAllahabad, transferred to KarnatakaClosepet HonniahRajasthanKoratagere BhimaiahKarnatakaMahadevayya Sadanand SwamiGauhatiVijaykumar Siddheshwaraswami MalimathKarnataka, transferred to KeralaKalmanje Jagannatha ShettyAllahabadMandagadde Rama JoisPunjab & HaryanaKudarikoti Annadanayya SwamyMadrasMuniyallapa RamakrishnaJammu & Kashmir, transferred to GauhatiSyed Abdul HakeemKarnatakaShivaraj Virupanna PatilRajasthanNyaka Yellapa HanumanthappaOrissaKorategere Hanumanthayya Narasimha KurangaChhattisgarhRaju Varadarajulu RaveendranMadhya PradeshSubray Rama NayakChhattisgarhHandyala Lalshminarayanaswamy DattuChhattisgarh, transferred to KeralaSamindar Rudrayya BannurmathKeralaVenkate Gopala GowdaOrissaManjula ChellurKerala, transferred to Calcutta then to BombayMohan ShantanagoudarKeralaAjjikuttira Somaiah BopannaGauhatiLingappa Narayana SwamyHimachal PradeshRavi Vijayakumar MalimathMadhya PradeshAravind KumarGujaratGuhanathan NarendarUttarakhandPratinidhi Srinivasacharya Dinesh KumarKarnatakaPavankumar Bhimappa BajanthriPatnaKempaiah SomashekarManipur

Judges appointed as Acting Chief Justice NameAppointed as ACJ in HC ofDate of appointment as JudgePeriod as Acting Chief JusticeDate of retirementTenure as ACJTenure as JudgeRemarksRef..N. Srinivasa RauKarnataka --Became permanentHombe GowdaKarnatakaDied in officeA. R. Somanath IyerKarnatakaBecame permanentC. HonniahKarnataka --K. BhimaiahKarnatakaBecame permanentM. Sadanand SwamiGauhatiV. S. MalimathKarnatakaK. Jagannatha ShettyKarnataka --M. Rama JoisKarnatakaK. A. SwamyKarnatakaElevated as CJ of MadrasM. RamakrishnaKarnataka --S. A. HakeemKarnatakaBecame permanentS. Rajendra BabuKarnataka --Shivaraj PatilMadrasElevated as CJ of RajasthanS. R. NayakKarnatakaElevated as CJ of ChhattisgarhB. PadmarajKarnataka --Manjula ChellurKeralaBecame permanentKaranam Sreedhar RaoKarnataka --GauhatiRetired as ACJHumchadakatte G. RameshKarnataka --Mohan ShantanagoudarKeralaBecame permanentHuluvadi G. RameshMadras --L. N. SwamyKarnatakaRavi MalimathUttarakhandTransferred to Himachal Pradesh Himachal PradeshElevated as CJ of Madhya PradeshP. S. Dinesh KumarKarnatakaBecame permanentP. B. BajanthriPatna

Judges elevated to Supreme Court This section includes the list of only those judges whose parent high court was Karnataka. This includes those judges who, at the time of elevation to Supreme Court of India, may not be serving in Karnataka High Court but this list does not include judges who at the time of elevation were serving in Karnataka High Court but does not have Karnataka as their Parent High Court.

Colour Key

Key Resigned Died in office #Name of the JudgeImageDate of AppointmentDate of RetirementTenureImmediately preceding officeIn Parent High CourtIn Supreme CourtIn High Court(s)In Supreme CourtTotal tenure1Kowdoor Sadananda Hegde1st CJ of Delhi HC2Engalaguppe Seetharamiah VenkataramiahJudge of Karnataka HC3Kalmanje Jagannatha Shetty27th CJ of Allahabad HC4Manepalli Narayanarao VenkatachaliahJudge of Karnataka HC5Nanje Gowda VenkatachalaJudge of Karnataka HC6Sanjeevalu Rajendra BabuJudge of Karnataka HC7Shivaraj Virupanna Patil21st CJ of Rajasthan HC8Raju Varadarajulu Raveendran18th CJ of Madhya Pradesh HC9Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu27th CJ of Kerala HC10Venkate Gopala Gowda24th CJ of Orissa HC11Mohan Shantanagoudar32nd CJ of Kerala HC12Syed Abdul NazeerJudge of Karnataka HC13Ajjikuttira Somaiah Bopanna37th CJ of Gauhati HC14Bengaluru Venkataramaiah NagarathnaIncumbentJudge of Karnataka HC15Aravind Kumar26th CJ of Gujarat HC

Additional Benches