Rift within the executive committee of the Bar Association of the Calcutta High Court has come to the fore, as a section of its members resorted to an indefinite cease-work on Tuesday. Another section, on the other hand, demanded that the strike be withdrawn tomorrow.

In a letter to Amjad Ali, president of the Bar Association, nearly 120 members called for a general body meeting on Wednesday to withdraw the cease-work that paralysed the High Court on Tuesday.

Sanjay Bardhan, Assistant Secretary of the Bar Association, said 9 out of 15 executive committee members were in favour of withdrawing the cease-work. He personally also felt that the strike should be called off, Bardhan added. “The president, vice-president and general secretary of the association did not attend office today,” he said.

Amjad Ali, who is also a Trinamool Congress leader, said over telephone that he had not received any letter demanding a general meeting. Reacting to the rift within the Bar Association, Ali said the decision on the week-long cease-work, demanding the appointment of judges to fill up vacant posts, was taken in general meeting on Friday. “Perhaps, a section of the bar members today felt they had wrongly supported the decision,” he added.

Bhaskar Prasad Vaishya, who handed over the letter to the Bar Association, claimed the decision was taken beyond the scheduled time of the meeting on Friday. “There was no such proposal to call for a cease work from November 3 in the notice for the Friday meeting,” he added.

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