When lawyers strike, consumers of justice suffer, not judges: CJI Chandrachud

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, November 19

As advocates in Gujarat and Telangana resort to strike against the Supreme Court Collegium’s reported recommendation to transfer one judge each from the Gujarat High Court and the Telangana High Court to the Patna High Court, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Saturday appealed to the striking lawyers to talk to him.

“Strike must give way to harmony. Much of what confronts us with regard to our problems can be solved through dialogue… I appeal to the members of the Bar to talk to me…When lawyers strike, consumers of justice suffer, not judges,” CJI Chandrachud said here this evening at a function organised by the Bar Council of India to felicitate him.

“We must learn to trust those in authority who have the best welfare of the institution at heart…Question them, but learn to trust them as well,” he said.

Interestingly, the CJI didn’t specifically mention the names of two high courts where advocates were protesting the Collegium’s decisions.

In his first Collegium meeting on Wednesday, CJI Chandrachud and other four members of the Collegium had reportedly decided to recommend the transfer of Justice Nikhil S Kariel of the Gujarat High Court and Justice A Abhishek Reddy of the Telangana High Court to the Patna High Court. The Collegium was also understood to have recommended transfer of Madras High Court Acting Chief Justice T Raja to the Rajasthan High Court for “administrative reasons”.

The Collegium’s recommendation – which has not been officially made public – has been opposed by the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association and the Telangana High Court Advocates Association which gave a call to its members to abstain from work.

“When we take decisions on the administrative side, we are looking at the national perspective. The lawyers and the Bar may be looking at it from a district or high court perspective,” Justice Chandrachud said.

Quoting Dr BR Ambedkar, the CJI said strike was relevant during colonial rule, not now.

Earlier, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, Attorney General R Venkataramani, BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra and several other judges and advocates heaped praise on Justice Chandrachud on his elevation to the top judicial position.

To a question regarding his criticism of the Collegium system, Rijiju said, “The CJI is open to discussions and we will discuss it in a transparent manner.”

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