Advocates Abstain from Court, Demand withdrawal of Justice Jayant’s Transfer
Mangaluru: The Mangalore Bar Association staged a protest demanding the withdrawal of the transfer of Karnataka High court judge Justice Jayant M Patel, in front of the District Court Building Kodialbail here on October 4.
Addressing the protesters President of the Mangalore Bar Association M R Ballal said, “According to the Karnataka Bar Association we the 189 bar associations in the state have abstained from the court and are staging a protest demanding the withdrawal of the transfer of senior most High court Judge Justice Jayant Patel. On October 9, Justice Mukherjee will be retiring and Jayant was supposed to be promoted as the next High court chief Justice but his sudden transfer has forced Justice Jayant to resign from his post. Justice Jayant was the Justice in the Gujarat High court and later transferred to the Karnataka High court. On October 10 he was supposed to be the Chief Justice of Karnataka High court but was transferred to the Allahabad High Court which has forced him to resign from his post. We demand the withdrawal of Justice Jayant Patel’s transfer and to cancel his resignation.”
Addressing the protesters SP Chengappa said, “The Legislative, Executive, Judiciary and Press are the four pillars of democracy. The independence of advocacy now is in danger and we need to retain it. The relationship between the bench and the bar if good, which will help the Judiciary to function well. The recent development indicates the danger for the independent judiciary.”
SP Chengappa further said, “The Judge should not be guided by passion but he must exhibit intelligence. Now we see more of passion and less intelligence. Many judges are deprived of higher posts and injustice have been done with most of the Judges from Karnataka. Earlier we had faith in the Collegium system. The Collegium system has now totally failed. The judges are responsible for any problem faced by the judiciary. The government should not interfere in the judiciary. As a judge of the high court, Justice Jayant had ordered CBI inquiry in Ishrat Jahan case. We are protesting throughout the state to withdraw Justice Jayant’s resignation and on October 10 Jayant should be promoted as the Chief Justice of the High court”.
General Secretary of MBA Dinakar Shetty said, “Justice Jayant Patel was the second senior most justice of the High court. His sudden transfer to Allahabad high court had forced him to resign from his post. The president has accepted Justice Jayant’s resignation but his resignation and transfer should be withdrawn. On what moral grounds was Jayant transferred to Allahabad court and why was he transferred? All over the country, we have 24 high courts and 880 judges with 309 posts still vacant. In Karnataka, there is a need for 62 judges but we have only 27 judges now, which is causing a delay in delivering justice to the people”.
Senior Advocate Mohammed Haneef also spoke on the occasion. MBA executive committee members Daniel Mascarenhas, Naveen Chilpar, Puspalatha, Prafulla Kumari, Sujith Shetty, Zita Priya Moras, Dhanavanthi and others were also present.