Gujarat HC advocates' body passes resolution seeking transfer of Chief Justice

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association (GHCAA) on Monday unanimously passed a resolution seeking transfer of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal to another HC within the "framework of law" over change in roster

The general body of the GHCAA met to discuss and pass an appropriate resolution concerning recent incidents with regard to sudden change in roster of the High Court, a top office-bearer said.

A copy of the resolution passed at the extraordinary general body meeting of the association will be forwarded to the Chief Justice of India, GHCAA president Brijesh Trivedi said.

Trivedi proposed a resolution wherein a majority of the members of the bar insisted on inserting words "... including seeking transfer of the Hon'ble Chief Justice."

"The manner in which sudden changes were made in the roster -- the issue was covered in newspapers and social media -- demeaned the authority and majesty of the high court in the eyes of litigants. We have raised that issue," he told reporters after the meeting. "This resolution was put to vote and passed unanimously. We will send a copy of the resolution to the Chief justice of India on Tuesday," Trivedi maintained.

The GHCAA unanimously resolved to take steps to ensure that the faith of people be restored by reversing the recent development, "thereby restoring the sanctity and independence of the judiciary."

"The House (general body) expresses grave concern over the impact of such actions and unanimously decided to make a representation to the Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and other Collegium Judges regarding the recent incident, "which has had the effect of lowering the image of the administration of justice," the resolution said. "The House further resolves to take appropriate steps, including seeking transfer of the Hon'ble Chief Justice within the framework of law, to ensure that the faith of litigants and the public in the judiciary is restored and that such practices do not recur in the future," it said.

A HC roster lists out the allocation of cases to different judges within the court. Senior advocate Asim Pandya had recently written to the association president over the the Chief Justice suddenly taking away the business pertaining to contempt of court from one judge and transferring it to another bench and notifying a new roster by making a single bench judge taking up criminal quashing matter to sit on a bench of two judges.

It may be mentioned here that the Chief Justice's bench had recently made certain remarks on the conduct of GHCAA president Trivedi after he had a heated exchange in the high court. The court later expunged its remarks after Trivedi expressed regret.