Savvy Thakur
Published on: 20 November 2022 at 20:55 IST
Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud gave the protesting lawyers some advice ahead of his scheduled meeting with Gujarat lawyers on November 21 regarding their opposition to the transfer of Justice Nikhil S Kariel from Gujarat to the Patna High Court.
During his speech today at the Bar Council of India (BC) felicitation, the CJI stated that such strikes must be replaced by cooperation under the constitutional scheme.
Dr. Ambedkar said “satyagraha, strike” when he spoke to the Constituent Assembly on the eve of the Constitution’s adoption. This was a tool under colonial rule; now that we are under home rule, where we rule ourselves, strikes and other forms of resistance must be replaced by cooperation.
In addition, the CJI stated that lawyers ought to be aware of the fact that litigants would suffer if lawyers went on strike.
“Who suffers when lawyers strike? We exist to serve the consumer of justice, not the lawyers or judges. Conceivably, legal counselors since following a couple of days charge would stop. However, the recipient of justice suffers most.”
He also compared Collegium’s decisions to those of the Supreme Court, which reversed decisions made by the High Court on the judicial side.
The Supreme Court frequently overturns High Court decisions from a pan-Indian perspective; As a result, he urged advocates to consider administrative decisions made by the Supreme Court from this perspective as well.
“Individuals from bar must understand that so regularly when we take choices in authoritative limit we are checking out at things in public viewpoint. Of course, you should always question those in authority…”
“….but you should also always learn to trust those in authority to the point where you can at least assume that they are thinking of your best interests at heart, which requires you to make difficult choices.”
Since the news of Justice Kariel’s transfer to the Patna High Court was reported by the media on November 17, the Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association has been holding a protest.
Over 300 advocates gathered in Chief Justice Aravind Kumar‘s courtroom during the morning session of the Gujarat High Court to mourn what they referred to as the “death of judiciary independence.”
After that, the Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association (GHCAA) decided to stop working for good until the Supreme Court Collegium reconsiders its decision to move Justice Kariel.
On Monday, a seven-member delegation from the Gujarat bar is scheduled to meet with the CJI and demand that he reconsiders the transfer proposal for Justice Kariel.
The bar in Madras and Telangana High Courts has also objected to Collegium decisions regarding their respective high courts, such as the transfer of Justice A. Abhishek Reddy from Telangana to Patna High Court and of acting Chief Justice T Raja from Madras to Rajasthan High Court.