Ahmedabad, 9 March 2013

As per the report by Abraham Thomas in Pioneer newspaper, the Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association (GHAA), lawyers’ body of Gujarat High Court has protested against the arbitrary manner of appointments made by the Supreme Court collegium, overlooking seniority, merit and integrity while choosing judges for the Supreme Court.

GHAA which is the only lawyers’ body of the Gujarat High Court has sent a resolution signed by GHAA General Secretary Ashok V Prajapati and passed in an extraordinary general meeting dated February 22, 2013 in this regard to the office of the President of India. It states: “The GHAA hereby protests the fact that even a collegium of five Honourable Judges of the Honourable Supreme Court has overlooked the seniority, acute legal competence, honesty, dedication, and steadfastness of his Lordship the Honourable Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya.The association bemoans the negative impact on the administration of justice, when persons with such sterling qualities, who have served the cause of justice with impeccable character and acumen, are superseded.”

Pioneer adds that the office of the President of India has also received similar representations raising questions over the selection of judges by the Supreme Court collegiums. One such representation sent by the All-India Legal Aid Forum with its registered office in New Lawyers Chamber of the Supreme Court states that Justice Brain Ghost, Chief Justice of Uttarakhand HC has been superseded despite being the senior most among the High Court Chief Justices.The representation also made mention of Justice Bhattacharya being similarly superseded and went on to state: “This type of superseding is not only destroying the Indian judicial system, but also destroying the morality and dignity of the judiciary of this country.”