HC advocates abstain from work in protest against transfer of 2 judges
Vijayawada: A section of the advocates at the Andhra Pradesh High Court abstained from work on Friday in protest against the transfer of two judges from the court and demanding the withdrawal of order.
The Supreme Court collegium recommended transfer of seven judges of various high courts including two from AP on Thursday. The two AP judges were Justice Battu Devanand and Justice D. Ramesh. They have been shifted to the Madras and Allahabad high courts respectively.
The advocates abstained from court work, raised slogans, staged a protest and held a rally in the court premises.
They alleged that the procedure for the transfers lacked transparency. “If the two were transferred based on complaints lodged against them over a series of judgments given by them, this would be having its (adverse) impact on other judges in delivery of justice in future, they argued.
The high court bar association held its general body meeting and passed a resolution seeking withdrawal of the transfer orders. They collected signatures and sent them to the President and Chief Justice of India seeking their intervention.
AP additional advocate general Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy told the media that the state government or chief minister would be having no role in the decisions of the Supreme Court collegium. “None would be having the authority to question the SC decisions and all are equal as per the provisions of Constitution.”
He deplored the tendency to raise caste-related issues vis-à-vis the judicial system.
Maintaining that the SC Collegium was an independent system, he said those who staged the protest were having no trust in the judicial system.
In a related development, the high court advocates association said it had not given any call to boycott court work as the Supreme Court had issued a direction earlier that advocates should avoid staging protests and boycotting court work.
The association distanced itself from the resolution passed by a section of the advocates to ask its members to abstain from court work.
