The indefinite boycott resorted to by the advocates of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court for the last four days since Monday got a happy ending, thanks to Chief Justice (CJ) M Y Eqbal.
Apart from agreeing to send two more judges from the Madras High Court to its bench here, the CJ has also said to have signed orders to transfer a considerable number of court staff from the Madras High Court to Madurai. As their demands have been accepted, the lawyers have ended their protest and are expected to return to court on Friday.
In a closed door meeting with the representatives of advocate associations, Eqbal told the advocates that steps have already been taken to fill up the vacancies for court staffs.
“All along our demand was to post one third of the total strength of judges at the High Court to its bench here and fill the court staff vacancies”, said M Thirunavukarasu, president of the Madurai Bench High Court Advocates Association (MBHAA).
The CJ has agreed to send one more judge to Madurai, in August. “From August, there will be two judges to hear cases pertaining to admission of writ petitions, one judge for notice of motion and adjourned admission and one judge exclusively for final hearing of writ petitions”, said W Peter Ramesh Kumar, president of the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court Bar Association (MMBA).
Putting to rest the uncertainties over accommodation for additional judges, who would come here, the CJ has given his bungalow for use for the judges who assume charge in August”, said Thirunavukarasu.
The CJ also agreed to be here for the eighth year celebration of the bench,” he said.
I Robert Chandrasekar, a lawyer, denying media reports which stated that lawyers had used the court hall as cafeteria, said, “On Tuesday and Wednesday, we continued our protest inside the court hall, only because the judges did not even bother to hear our grievance and consider our representations. We did not barge into the court halls and sit there the whole day”, he added.