Several lawyers of the Gujarat High Court today abstained from work as part of a one-day strike to protest against the reported transfer of Justice Jayant Patel of the Karnataka High Court.
Patel had resigned on Monday without citing any reasons. The resignation came amid reports that the Supreme Court collegium had decided to transfer him to the Allahabad High Court.
The judge was reportedly unhappy over not being made the chief justice of any court despite his seniority.
The strike call was given by the Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association. Only a limited number of cases were heard as advocates--nearly 1,500 are members of the association--stayed away from work.
They formed a human chain outside the high court to mark their protest.
Patel was the acting chief justice of Gujarat High Court before being shifted to Karnataka High Court in February 2016.
He was in the limelight after he ordered a CBI probe into the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case in Gujarat when Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state.
"Lawyers did not join work today as part of the strike call given by us. The strike was a complete success. We had also appealed to the lawyers of lower courts to join us in the protest," said association president Asim Pandya.
The association in a resolution passed yesterday had said it would take "appropriate legal proceedings" in the apex court against the reported transfer.
"(The association) has decided to file appropriate legal proceedings before the SC...and also raise the larger issues viz., seeking full disclosure of the reason of the collegiums of the SC and/or HC with regard to the recommendations of the appointments, non-appointments, non-performance of HC judges and/or elevation or non-elevation of the judges," it had said.
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