Thaindian News

Gandhinagar, Feb 1 (IANS) A majority of advocates practicing at the Gujarat High Court Tuesday abstained from work in support of a two-day shutdown call given by a lawyers’ association over the non-appointment of judges to the court. A few lawyers, however, did not support the shut-down call and attended courts which functioned normally.

Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association (GHAA) president Yatin Oza approached the chief justice with a request not to hear cases and accommodate the bar’s agitation, which he claimed was for “a good cause”.

Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya told Oza that the judges also wanted some accommodation from the bar, considering the backlog of cases.

The chief justice wanted assurance from Oza that the lawyers would not continue the strike Wednesday, to which he did not agree.

The chief justice then said: “Don’t open your offices, don’t meet your clients, don’t charge them fees and don’t eat for two days.”

“The bar and the bench should not be fighting on the issue of non-appointment. I still don’t understand against whom you’re agitating,” the chief justice said.

“Are you agitating against the central government, the high court, the Supreme Court or the president? These are not the things you should be discussing or mentioning in open court,” the chief justice said.