HC strike to continue till April 19

TT, Calcutta: The members of three lawyers' organisations of Calcutta High Court on Tuesday decided to continue their ceasework till April 19, rejecting the Centre's assurance to appoint more judges soon.

The prolonged lawyers' strike has left the fate of thousands of litigants uncertain as there have been no hearings of cases in the court over the past 44 days.

Several litigants had hoped that the ceasework would be called off on Tuesday and their cases would be heard.

"My lawyer told me over phone that the ceasework would be withdrawn today (Tuesday) and asked me to come to the court. But after coming here, I learnt that the strike would continue," said Manjunath Ghorai, a farmer from Egra in East Midnapore. "My cousin has grabbed my land with the help of local police and I don't know what to do with the court on strike."

The lawyers' bodies had started their ceasework from February 19, demanding filling up of 42 vacant posts of judges in the court.

On Tuesday, after 44 days of ceasework, the lawyers decided to continue their movement at separate meetings until the Centre appointed at least 20 more judges in the court.

The members, particularly the younger ones of the three lawyers' bodies - Bar Association, Bar Library Club and Incorporated Law Society - forced their leaders to continue the ceasework.

Some lawyers, who wanted the ceasework to be withdrawn for the sake of the litigants, said it was surprising that the state government was still mum over the issue.

"Neither chief minister Mamata Banerjee nor law minister Malay Ghatak has commented on the issue till date," a lawyer said.

However, a leader of one of the lawyers' organisations said advocate general Kishore Dutta, in an informal meeting with the leaders of the lawyers' bodies, had said that the chief minister had taken up the issue with Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Three lawyers' bodies convened separate meetings on Tuesday to decide their future course of action. But all the meetings ended within half an hour as most of the members were in favour of continuing the ceasework.

Contacted, Amal Mukherjee, the secretary of the Bar Association, said: "We have decided to continue the ceasework after a majority of our members demanded it. We will again meet at a general body meeting on April 19 to decide our future course of action."

It was for the third time since February 19 that the members of the lawyers' bodies met and decided to continue the movement.