Jodhpur lawyers on strike against CM Gehlot's 'corruption' in judiciary remark

Work was affected in the lower courts of Jodhpur and the high court here on Friday as thousands of lawyers observed a one-day strike against Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlots remark suggesting corruption in the judiciary.President of the High Court Advocates Association Ranjeet Joshi said the strike would be intensified if the chief minister did not apologise.

Work was affected in the lower courts of Jodhpur and the high court here on Friday as thousands of lawyers observed a one-day strike against Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's remark suggesting ''corruption'' in the judiciary.

President of the High Court Advocates' Association Ranjeet Joshi said the strike would be intensified if the chief minister did not apologise. Its general secretary Girdhar Singh Bhati claimed Gehlot's statement exhibited his helplessness in preventing corruption in the executive.

Gehlot had on Wednesday suggested that some judges might be reading out orders drafted by the lawyers. ''Corruption is rampant in the judiciary today,'' he said. However, a day later, Gehlot said the statement did not reflect his ''personal opinion''.

Joshi said Gehlot himself has been a member advocate of the association and chief minister of the state three times and ''it is highly unbecoming of him to behave in such an irresponsible manner and make an off-the-cuff statement against the judiciary''.

Alleging rampant corruption in the executive, Bhati said, “Gehlot has miserably failed to address this corruption in his government. This statement has been given to hide this failure and divert the attention of the people from the corruption making headlines almost every day.'' In its representation to the chief minister, the association demanded a public apology from Gehlot and warned of legal action.

Bhati added that Gehlot's statement comes under the category of contempt of court and the association will propose legal action against the chief minister after due deliberations.

Earlier in the day, the president of the Rajasthan High Court Lawyers Association Ravi Bhansali said there are nearly 10,000 advocates in Jodhpur and they all voluntarily boycotted work.

''The chief minister has made an insulting remark against the judiciary and advocates are not working today as a symbolic protest for a day,'' he said.

Bhansali said hearings in the court were affected as well because of the boycott.

The protesting lawyers also handed a memorandum to Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday in Jaipur, Chief Minister Gehlot said, ''Corruption is rampant in the judiciary today. I have heard that some lawyers themselves take the judgement in writing and the same judgement is pronounced.'' He later backtracked as a former Uttar Pradesh chief justice weighed in, a lawyer filed a plea in the Rajasthan High Court and another sent an application to the state's advocate general for consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Gehlot.

Offended by the statement, the lawyers had announced the daylong strike across all courts in Jodhpur, where the main bench of the Rajasthan High Court is located.