CJI holds meet with Guj, T’gana lawyers on judges’ transfer
NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud on Monday reached out to the lawyers from high courts of Gujarat and Telangana who are protesting against the Supreme Court’s decision last week to transfer one judge each from these high courts.
The CJI, accompanied by two other senior Supreme Court judges -- justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MR Shah – met the delegations representing the Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association (GHCAA) and the Telangana High Court Advocates’ Association (THCAA) during the day, and assured the lawyers’ bodies of looking into their objections against the proposed transfers.
At the same time, CJI Chandrachud “strongly” conveyed to the delegations that the lawyers should call off their strikes immediately and facilitate regular functioning of the courts in the wake of the deliberation with the judges and the assurance rendered.
While the Gujarat high court lawyers are yet to decide on the future course of action, the Telangana high court lawyers decided to end their strike and resume work following their meeting.
“We have been boycotting the courts to oppose the transfer but after the meeting with the honourable CJI, we have decided to resume work. But the protests will go on...,” P Krishna Reddy, vice-president of the THCAA said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, a September 29 resolution of the
Supreme Court collegium, recommending the transfer of another Gujarat high court judge, Vipul Manubhai Pancholi, to the Patna High Court, was released. At that time, justice Uday Umesh Lalit headed the collegium as the CJI.
“The body will meet tomorrow morning to decide on ending the strike...,” said advocate Hardik Brahmbhatt, GHCAA secretary.
Justice Chandrachud, who headed his first collegium meeting on November 16, decided to transfer three high court judges, one each from high courts of Madras, Gujarat and Telangana, for administrative reasons. The collegium initiated the process of transfer for Madras high court acting chief justice T Raja, Telangana high court judge A Abhishek Reddy and Gujarat high court judge Nikhil S Kariel.
The move, however, triggered protests from high court lawyers from these states, and several bodies resolved to strike work.
On Saturday, the CJI underscored that the collegium takes administrative decisions keeping in view the “national perspective”, and added that advocates’ strikes make “consumers of justice suffer”.