Breaking| We Mourn Death Of Independence Of Judiciary: Lawyers Protest Inside Gujarat CJ's Court Against Reports Of Transfer Of Justice Nikhil Kariel

"We have come here to mourn the death knell of the independence of Judiciary", a Senior Advocate told the Chief Justice Arvind Kumar of the Gujarat High Court some time back. 

Seeing that suddenly around 300 lawyers had gathered in the Courtroom while hearings were going on, the Chief Justice asked, "How come this sudden rush in the bar?".

When a Senior Advocate replied as mentioned above, the Chief Justice sitting with Justice Ashutosh J. Shastri asked, "Why, what happened?"

Because of the transfer of Justice Nikhil Kariel, the lawyers replied. "We are here only to observe two minutes of silence, nothing beyond that", a Senior Advocate said.

"When did you get the notification, I have no idea about it", the Chief Justice said.

"It has been reported today in the morning", the lawyers replied and sought permission to observe two minutes of silence in the Court. 

The Chief Justice then asked for a copy of the news report. A Senior Advocate handed over his mobile phone for the Court to read the report and mentioned what is said in the news report. 

"Normally the Chief Justice of the High Court should be consulted and the judge concerned should be consulted", Senior Advocate Khanna told the Court.

The Court then switched off the live streaming of the proceedings and spoke to the lawyers. It is reported that the Chief Justice has agreed to meet the lawyers at 1.45 pm on the issue. Lawyers have said that they will decide on the further course of action after the meeting.

It was reported in the morning today in some digital legal news websites that the Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud has recommended the transfer of Justice Nikhil S Kariel of the Gujarat High Court and Justice A Abhishek Reddy of the Telangana High Court to the Bihar High Court. 

However, no such Collegium Resolution has been published on the website of the Supreme Court yet.   

Justice Nikhil S Kariel was elevated as Judge of the Gujarat High Court on October 4, 2020, and his date of retirement is May 8, 2036.