Patna, Feb. 16: The weeklong strike of lawyers across the state to protest against evening courts has not found favours from retired judges of Patna High Court.

Judges today said, instead of resorting to mass abstention, the lawyers could have boycotted the evening courts. That would not have paralysed the legal system in the state.

They added that strikes by professionals such as doctors or lawyers could not be justified as it adversely affects common men.

“The lawyers should not have taken this step. Instead they could have boycotted the evening courts alone. The strike will have direct adverse effect on the disposal of cases,” retired judge Rajendra Prasad told The Telegraph.

Prasad, also a member of the state human rights commission, said the Supreme Court’s constitution bench had passed a judgement declaring the strike of lawyers as illegal in December 2002.

He said that 100 lawyers should be appointed as ad hoc judges in the high court. Similarly, ad hoc judges should also be appointed as judicial magistrates in lower courts for a year to speed up the disposal rate.

Echoing the same view, retired Justice Syed Mohammed Mahfooz Alam, currently judicial member of the central administrative tribunal at Jodhpur, told The Telegraph over phone that instead of going for mass-scale strike, lawyers should have just abstained from attending the evening courts.

“Evening courts are not practical in Bihar though there has been a tremendous improvement in the law and order situation during Nitish Kumar’s regime. But the situation has not improved enough. In many parts of the state, people are unsafe after darn,” said Alam. He added appointing ad hoc judges would not only help in quick disposal of cases but also solve the problem of unemployment of inexperienced lawyers.

Former acting Chief Justice of Patna High Court Nagendra Rai, who now practices in the apex court as a senior advocate, said though the idea of evening courts was not bad, the state, did not have the infrastructure to hold evening courts.

“It is not proper to run evening courts in Bihar at present, as it desperately lacks transportation facility and electricity problem especially in remote areas. The idea to set up such courts in Patna may be successful but that cannot be the case in remote areas of the state where normal life has to a stand still after dark,” said Rai.