New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) Litigants suffered as district courts in the capital were paralysed Thursday by a day-long strike of lawyers who are demanding all property cases be transferred from the Delhi High Court to district courts.

Judges held court as usual but in the absence of lawyers most cases were put off to other dates.

The ongoing 2G case was not affected as the cross-examination of prosecution witness continued as normal.

Litigants fumed over the inconvenience. “We have come from a far away place to appear before court, but our case was not taken up today (Thursday),” said a disappointed litigant.

“Lawyers have been demanding that the district courts of Delhi be brought at par with all other courts in the country so that they can hear and decide all property cases,” said Rajiv Khosla, spokesperson of the district courts bar association coordination committee. In Delhi, property disputes involving Rs.20 lakh or more are heard by the high court,

The lawyers said that the hearing of property cases at the high court took very long time and was inconvenient and expensive for litigants.

Khosla said the adjudication of a civil property case in the high court took a minimum of 12 years while in a district court it could be settled in two-three years.

He said the strike was aimed at drawing attention to the plight of the litigants.