Nagpur: City lawyers strongly protested on Friday that two significant Public Interest Litigations (PILs) were moved to the Mumbai headquarters of Bombay high court. The lawyers are already at loggerheads with outgoing Chief Justice (CJ) Pradeep Nandrajog over the sudden transfer to Aurangabad of Zaka Haq justice, which was considered “unnecessary.” The cases were transferred on CJ’s directives by the HC registry, the lawyers argued.
While defining the move as “shocking and deliberate,” the lawyers sent a request to President Gauri Venkatraman of the High Court Bar Association (HCBA), asking her to convene a meeting of the general body on the “serious” issue immediately and to initiate necessary action. Unable to contact Venkatraman while Secretary Prafulla Khubalkar did not pick up calls.
Lawyers challenged the reason behind the move of the three PILs to Mumbai. Furthermore, there was no demand from any party concerned, as in the case of NDCCB, where the alleged kingpin Sanjay Agrawal had filed a request for the case to be moved to Mumbai. “HCBA’s suo motu PIL was concerned with the construction of a new annex building for HC administration offices and staff, as well as lawyers, in the city. We don’t understand the purpose of forwarding the case to Mumbai, “they said.
The move came as a surprise for some who pleaded for the PILs. “They didn’t even take care of making our intimate on the transfer. There is no denying the fact that it is the prerogative of the CJ, but there should be some reasoning for it.
I would like to ask them if they think that judges at the Nagpur Bench are not sufficiently competent to decide on such matters, which are also related to the city. The HCBA should now strongly address the issue Endorsing him, Bhandarkar, who pleaded in one of the transferred PILs for petitioner Manoj Sable, said the HC regularly passed specific orders as a result of which various court infrastructure was strengthened. “Transfer news came like a bolt out of the blue.
The whole legal fraternity is totally stunned and visibly disturbed. For the lawyers, it is very demotivating, as they put a lot of effort into gathering the material and studying the subject, “he said.
The request also signed by former HCBA Secretary Kishor Lambat, now practicing at the Supreme Court, said the transfer would hamper the advancement of judicial infrastructure as HC had issued several directives that break the path. “Our bar association’s enduring threat, and abject embarrassment,” it said.
PILS TRANSFERRED TO MUMBAI SO FAR
Nagpur District Co-operative Central Bank (NDCCB) scam PIL (No25/2014), in which animal husbandry and sports minister Sunil Kedar is one of the accused Suo Motu PIL (No 7/2015) highlighting the plight of litigants and lawyers suffering from scorching temperatures, particularly in Vidarbha, and also for HC annex building Manoj Sable’s PIL (No 67/2015) praying
