The move comes following a decision by a singl- judge bench of the high court on Wednesday to refer a batch of cases pertaining to a ban imposed on girls wearing hijab at some government colleges in the state to a larger bench.

The Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court convened a three-judge bench, including himself, on Wednesday to hear a batch of petitions challenging a ban on the use of hijabs in a few pre-university colleges in the state, after a single-judge bench of the court decided to refer the petitions to a larger bench, citing larger constitutional issues.

The three-judge bench, referred to as a full bench of the High Court, will be led by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and will include Justice Krishna S Dixit, who referred the case to a larger bench, and Justice Khazi Jaibunnisa Mohiuddin. Justice Mohiuddin is a female judge who was sworn in as an additional judge of the High Court last March.

The special bench will hear five petitions on the hijab controversy on behalf of 18 girls from colleges in the Udupi region on Thursday.

Significantly, the formation of a larger bench violates Karnataka High Court rules, which state that a reference to a full bench can only be made by a two-judge bench. A layer of intra-court appeal is also removed with the larger bench hearing. A single-judge bench ruling can be appealed to a two-judge bench of the High Court, but a full bench ruling can only be challenged in the Supreme Court.

Earlier on Wednesday, the single-judge bench of Justice Dixit, which had started hearing the matter on Tuesday, said in order: “This court after hearing the matter for some time is of a considered opinion that (given)…the enormous public importance of the questions involved, the batch of these cases may be heard by a larger bench if the Honorable Chief Justice decides, in his discretion.”

The jugular vein of all these issues is whether or not wearing a hijab is an essential religious practice in Islam. Petitioners rely on three decisions of three neighbouring High Courts (Bombay, Madras, and Kerala) in support of an affirmative claim, which the respondent-state also seeks to rely on, as well as several decisions of the Apex Court. "The aforementioned question, as well as others, must be answered in light of constitutional guarantees to religious minorities," Justice Dixit wrote in his order.

Initially, the single-judge bench allowed arguments for an interim order allowing the students to attend classes for the final two months of the current academic year. However, it later decided to refer the issue of interim relief to a larger bench because the state government and petitioners' advocates could not reach an agreement.

The decision came after two days of rising tensions and protests across Karnataka over the issue, which resulted in the arrest of at least 15 people across the state for "breaching peace and harmony."

The Bengaluru Police imposed a ban on gatherings and protests on Wednesday, a day after the state closed all high schools and colleges for three days to defuse the situation.

Prohibitory orders were also issued in parts of Davangere, Shivamogga, and Bagalkot, where rival groups clashed on Tuesday. Bagalkot, a Rabkavi-Banhatti town, observed a bandh after a college teacher was injured in stone-throwing by students on Tuesday.

The single-judge bench of Justice Dixit in the High Court on Wednesday stated from the start that the concerns were raised on behalf of Muslim girls from a Udupi pre-university college and a PU college in Udupi's Kundapura involved issues that needed to be addressed by a larger bench. Following that, its order stated that "all of these matters essentially relate to the prohibition of the Hijab (headscarf) while prescribing the uniform for students who profess the Islamic faith." Rule 11 of the existing rules promulgated under the Karnataka Education Act, 1983, allows institution management to prescribe uniform, subject to certain conditions. The recent Government Order dated 05.02.2022, which ostensibly facilitates the enforcement of this rule, is also being challenged."