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AP advocates boycott court proceedings against transfer of two HC judges
From Andhra Pradesh high court, justice Devanand would be transferred to Madras high court and justice Ramesh to Allahabad.
Several advocates of the Andhra Pradesh high court on Friday boycotted the court proceedings in protest against the transfer of two judges, justices Battu Devanand and D Ramesh, people familiar with the matter said.
The Supreme Court Collegium on Thursday had recommended the transfer of seven judges across three high courts, including two from Andhra Pradesh and three from Telangana.
From Andhra Pradesh high court, justice Devanand would be transferred to Madras high court and justice Ramesh to Allahabad.
On Friday, the AP high court advocates’ association held an extraordinary general body meeting and condemned, what it called, an “arbitrary transfer” of the two judges. The association decided to boycott the court proceedings during the day and resolved to take up different programmes in the next few days to protest the transfers.
The association appealed to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud to revoke the transfers and retain the two judges in Andhra Pradesh itself. It also resolved to request the Bar Counsel of Andhra Pradesh to condemn the arbitrary transfers and take necessary steps to retain the judges.
The protesting advocates vowed to continue with the boycott until the collegium withdraws the transfer recommendation of justices Devanand and Ramesh.
At least 5,000 practising advocates at the high court and other subordinate courts stayed away from the work. They also staged protest on the high court premises.
Last week, advocates of the Telangana high court had protested against the proposed transfer of justice Abhishek Reddy from Hyderabad to Patna. The Telangana advocates’ association even went to Delhi and represented the issue to the CJI, requesting him to revoke the transfer.
