Bengaluru: Thousands of lawyers across Karnataka stayed away from the court proceedings on Wednesday after the Karnataka State Bar Council and Association called for a boycott of proceedings. Both unions decided to stay away from the court after Justice Jayant Patel resigned as he was transferred to Allahabad High Court.
Justice Jayant Patel -- the second most senior judge at Karnataka High Court was all set to become the Chief Justice of the HC as the incumbent CJ was set to retire on October 9. Justice Patel who would retire in 2018 was transferred to Allahabad High Court just a fortnight ago. Not happy with the move, Justice Patel had sent his resignation later to the Karnataka HC CJ.
The Bar Associations had said that transferring a judge who was set to become the Chief Justice will not set the right precedent and that the collegium needed to take cognisance of this.
"We would do Delhi Chalo and protest at Jantar Mantar if the Supreme Court and the Collegium doesn't listen to our demands. They haven’t seen our other side, we won’t step back in agitating against the apex court if need be," said Shivaram, President, Karnataka Bar Association.
At present, Karnataka HC has a strength of 24 judges whereas the full required strength is 62. "Five more judges will retire in 2018 and one judge has resigned. At this rate Karnataka High Court will need to be shut because there will be no judge left," added Shivaram.
Earlier in the day, few advocates did represent their clients in different court halls but all of them decided to stay away after the association members requested lawyers to not appear for proceedings and support the resolution.
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