As lawyers fight in Gujarat HC,CJ offers his good offices for peace

It court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Amit Panchal,an HC lawyer,after one of his colleagues,Jal Unwala,was allegedly abused and beaten up in his chamber by some senior lawyers and office-bearers of Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association (GHAA) for working on March 11 despite a strike call given by the association. Unwala had written a letter to the Chief Justice the same day seeking his intervention.

Unwala and senior counsel Saurabh Soparkar were also suspended from GHAA for conducting business on a day when there was a strike.

During the last hearing on the PIL,the division bench led by Chief Justice Bhattacharya had asked the parties concerned to resolve the issue amicably while referring the HC as a “family”. It had even asked advocate general Kamal Trivedi to intervene.

On Monday,senior counsel Mihir Thakore,appearing for Unwala and Soparkar,pressed for an apology from the GHAA members before an open court for the March 11 incident.

Subsequently,the Chief Justice asked the lawyers to resolve the issue outside the court. He,in fact,offered to conduct the hearing of the matter inside his chamber to resolve the issue before adjourning the matter.

He did not give any dates for the next hearing and asked the lawyers concerned to inform the court after arriving at some amicable solution.