Cal HC lawyers skip court, to boycott Justice Sharma oath
Times of India | 2 April 2025
Kolkata: The three lawyers' bodies of Calcutta High Court on Tuesday wrote to Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam informing him of their decision to boycott the swearing-in ceremony of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma. The move came within hours of the Centre notifying Justice Sharma's transfer to Calcutta HC from Delhi HC on the basis of the Supreme Court collegium's recommendation. The lawyers also threatened to stay away from Justice Sharma's court if he was allocated cases.
The Centre's transfer notification came even as the HC lawyers stayed away from court from 10am to 3.30pm on Tuesday in protest against the SC's recommendation on Justice Sharma's transfer to Calcutta HC. Very few cases were heard during the day as the judges made it clear they would not hear matters unless both sides were present during hearing.
On March 28, Calcutta HC's Bar Association, Bar Library Club and Incorporated Law Society had written to Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna urging him to reconsider and recall the collegium's March 27 recommendation arguing that Calcutta HC could not be a "dumping ground" for judges with "questionable image or short stints". Appended to the two-page letter were whistleblower emails against Justice Sharma to the apex court and Delhi HC on Oct 28 and Nov 4, 2024. The emails seemingly refer to Justice Sharma holding on to specific civil disputes as "part heard" despite his roster being changed.
The three advocates' associations, in their letter to CJ Sivagnanam on Tuesday, also urged that no judicial work be assigned to Justice Sharma. "In the event any determination is assigned to the learned judge, there is a possibility that our members may not appear before the learned judge and/or may take such further decisions in this regard as would be subsequently decided in the respective general body meeting of our three-wings of the bar," the letter states.
The three Calcutta HC lawyers' associations also wrote to the additional solicitor general and advocate general urging them to boycott Justice Sharma's swearing-in ceremony.
In the morning, the Bar Library Club was the first to decide on the protest. It passed a resolution stating, "The members unanimously agreed that the situation falls under the rarest of rare category as the HC at Calcutta is being compelled to accept a judge facing serious allegations of impropriety. It was also agreed that in the event the transfer is given effect to, the same would be an imminent threat to the honour, integrity and dignity of our High Court and independence of our legal profession." The resolution, which spelled out that its members would not attend court from 10 am to 3.30 pm, was adopted by the Bar Association and the Incorporated Law Society.
Last Friday, the three associations had in a letter to CJI Khanna said the details in the complaints against Justice Sharma were "not only disconcerting, but also extremely disturbing". They alleged the proposed transfer did not fall within the ambit of "regular transfers...".