Justice Haq takes charge at Aurangabad

Nagpur: Scores of city lawyers heaved a sigh of relief after Justice Zaka Haq finally took charge at Aurangabad bench of Bombay high court from Monday. He is heading the division bench also having justice SM Gavhane, as per the lawyers.
On first day of his sitting, he granted a relief to a 78-year-old retired labourer, Sambha Jondale, who was earlier working with Vasantrao Naik, Marathawada Krushi Vidyapith in Parbhani, by directing the government to release his pensionary benefits.
Upset by sudden transfer by former chief justice Pradeep Nandrajog, the city judge was reluctant to take up the new post and even went on long leave till further notice. There were speculations that he may even resign, which led to protest by the lawyers, including senior ones like former advocate general Shreehari Aney, senior counsels like Surendra Kumar Mishra, Anil Mardikar, Anand Jaiswal apart from noted ones Firdos Mirza, Shreerang Bhandarkar and others.
According to lawyers, Justice Haq took up the new assignment on same day when former CJ retired, and city-based Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari took up the charge being the senior most in the hierarchy.
“Since, Justice Haq had joined the new post and the new CJ has assumed charge from this week, we will wait for some positive outcome. We have high expectations from the new CJ, who’s native of the city and is well familiar with Justice Haq. We have therefore decided to hold our protests against the judge’s abrupt transfer to Aurangabad,” the lawyers told TOI.
Enraged over Justice Nandrajog’s move, even the High Court Bar Association (HCBA) here had passed a resolution protesting against the judge’s transfer. Over 300 lawyers had signed a resolution on January 21 and HCBA office-bearers handed it over to former CJ in Mumbai in presence of Aney in first week of this month.
However, the CJ defended his decision stating that he wanted a dynamic lawyer at the Aurangabad bench who could also effectively look after Public Interest Litigations (PILs), besides regular civil and criminal cases. TOI has been following the issue with series of reports since HCBA passed resolution.
After CJ’s refusal to cancel Justice Haq’s transfer, the lawyers restarted their protests on February 17 where over 500 of them tied white bands on their coats in the first session. They had planned to intensify the protests in coming days while terming the transfer as “humiliation” for entire legal fraternity from the city. “But those were put on hold for few days, on hopes that new CJ would take an “appropriate decision”. In Aurangabad, he would be at fifth position and retire in May 2021 in same position. In Nagpur, he would retire on second position,” the lawyers said.