Calcutta HC lawyers to resume work from tomorrow

Lawyers at the Calcutta High Court

are set to resume work from tomorrow after a gap of 70 days, as their demand for appointment of judges has been met partially.

The lawyers were on a ceasework strike over the demand.

This was the longest ceasework by lawyers in the history of the high court, surpassing the previous ceasework, which lasted for two months in 2002 in protest against the hike in stamp duty by the West Bengal government.

The Bar Association, which commands the affiliation of most of the lawyers practising at the high court, called off the ceasework yesterday, saying the Union Law Ministry has issued the notification of the appointment of four additional judges.

 

The ministry has also notified the appointment of Justice Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya, who was the acting chief justice, as the chief justice of the high court, Bar Association president Uttam Majumdar said.

"Our demand for appointment of judges to the full sanctioned strength for the high court has been partially met and we want that more appointments are made soon so that pending cases can be disposed faster," Majumdar said here today.

The high court was headed by acting chief justices for more than three years now with the exception of only three months, he said.

The Bar Association, Bar Library Club and Incorporated Law Society had gone on a ceasework from February 19 demanding appointment of judges and a chief justice to the country's oldest high court, which has been facing a severe shortage in the judiciary for long.

"The Bar Library Club will meet tomorrow in the morning to formally withdraw the agitation and members will join court immediately after," its president Jayanta Mitra said.

A large number of cases are likely to be filed before the high court from tomorrow, where very few petitions have been registered during the ceasework.

Bail applications, appeals against trial court orders, apart from several other petitions are likely to be filed this week following resumption of professional work by the advocates.

A total of 2,23,921 cases were pending before the high court at the end of March this year, according to the official data.

The high court has a sanctioned strength of 72 judges.

It had only 30 judges when the agitation commenced and three new judges took oath on March 12, raising the strength of sitting judges to 33.

But the associations demanded that at least 50 per cent of the sanctioned strength be filled up before they reconsider the agitation.

The Bar Association, which had on April 26 extended the ceasework till May 11 with the rider that the agitation would stand withdrawn automatically if new appointments to the judiciary are made in the meantime, called off the agitation following the notification.