Lawyers in Surat have decided to strike work on July 29 and 30 to press for their demand to transfer district & sessions judge RP Dholaria.
Lawyers in Surat have decided to strike work on July 29 and 30 to press for their demand to transfer district & sessions judge RP Dholaria.
The decision to boycott court proceedings and all related work was taken during a requisition meeting of Surat District Bar Association (SDBA) on Tuesday afternoon. About 300 lawyers attended the meeting. Senior advocate Ashit Mehta, who proposed to strike work on Wednesday and Thursday, said, "The sessions judge RP Dholaria and his subordinate judges are ignoring lawyers.
The lawyers are facing humiliation due to highhanded approach of judges, which can't be tolerated. We need to aggressively press for our demand, and I feel strike is the only way to make our voice heard."
There was opposition to the proposal from some members of the bar association, who opined that the strikes also hurt lawyers, especially junior lawyers, and suggested that other means to press for their demand should be considered.
Angry scenes were witnessed in the meeting after advocate Arvind Vasoya alleged that some senior lawyers were working even during earlier strikes called by SDBA. This led to pandemonium in the meeting. However, order was restored after intervention of other senior lawyers.
Advocate Jayesh Bhandari then seconded Ashit Mehta's resolution, which was approved by majority of the lawyers present.
"There was near unanimity among lawyers over the decision to strike work and boycott all court proceedings over the next two days. We cannot tolerate insult of the bar association," SDBA president Mahendrasinh Atodaria, said.
The lawyers have been on warpath against district & sessions judge RP Dholaria for almost a month. This was after the bar association president Atodaria, secretary Hitesh Patel, and public prosecutor Nayan Sukhadwala were not invited to a Lok Adalat held on June 27.
The bar saw this as an insult and passed a resolution on July 3 seeking Dholaria's transfer. The bar also wrote to Chief Justice of Gujarat HC, legal department secretary and others, demanding Dholaria's transfer within a fortnight. However, with no response to their demand so far, the lawyers have decided to raise the pitch.
"Besides totally boycotting court work for two days, we will also resort to picketing outside the court premises," SDBA secretary Hitesh Patel, said.
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