KOLKATA: Lawyers associations at the Calcutta High Court today extended till March 5 their ceasework to press for immediate appointment of judges to fill up vacant posts, leaving litigants in the lurch.
Claiming that the Centre is yet to respond to their demand for filling up the vacancies for judges in the high court, three lawyers bodies took separate resolutions to extend the ceasework which they had launched on February 20.
"The Supreme Court collegium has cleared five names for appointment as judges, but the Union law ministry is yet to clear these," Bar Association president Uttam Majumdar said.
"We also want appointment of a permanent chief justice to the high court, which has been headed by acting chief justices for the last three years except for just three months when Justice Girish Gupta was elevated to the post," he said.
Justice Gupta, a judge of Calcutta high court, was the acting chief justice when he was made a permanent chief justice three months before his retirement, Majumdar said.
"We are astonished that there has been no reaction or response from the Union law ministry despite a five-day ceasework at one of the premier high courts in the country for the legitimate demand of appointment of judges," High Court Bar Library Club president Jayanta Mitra told PTI here.
He said that the lawyers bodies had sent representations for a meeting with Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad but are yet to receive any communication.
"As such we have decided to extend the ceasework till March five, on which date we will meet again to decide on the future course of action," Mitra, a former advocate general at the high court, said.
Incorporated Law Society, another lawyers' forum at the high court, also took a separate resolution to extend the ceasework along with the other two bodies.
"We hope that the Union law ministry will respond to our demand soon given the huge shortage in the number of judges at the high court, which is delaying dispensation of justice to the litigants," its secretary Paritosh Sinha said.
The high court at present has 30 sitting judges out of a sanctioned strength of 72.
Out of the 30, two judges are permanently on rotation at the Andaman and Nicobar Circuit bench of the high court.
Over 2.22 lakh cases were pending before the high court as on December 31, 2017, as per official data.
Hundreds of litigants, who had come to the court hoping that the ceasework would be lifted today, were left disappointed due to the uncertainty over when their petitions would be taken up for hearing.
''While the vacancies in the judiciary are delaying hearing of our cases, the ceasework is also leading to piling up of pending cases,'' said one of the many petitioners who had turned up at the court from across the state hoping that their cases would be heard.
Judges sat in the courtrooms in the morning as usual.
But as no lawyer appeared to argue the petitions which were called for hearing they retired to their respective chambers.