Ranchi, March 4: Advocates of Jharkhand High Court continued to stay away from work in spite of the government decision to reconsider the appointment of advocate-general J.S. Sinha, saying they needed a written confirmation to convince them.

The advocates had struck work yesterday because Sinha does not belong to the local bar.

The Ranchi District Bar Association today joined hands with the high court advocates and went on strike after 1 pm. Association president Gopal Sahu said the strike would continue till the government finalised the name of an advocate from the state bar council as the next advocate-general. The association will hold a special meeting on Monday to decide the future course of action.

The name of Supreme Court practitioner J.S. Sinha was nominated by chief minister Shibu Soren at the first meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday, the day the JMM leader was sworn in as the head of the UPA government. Sinha, sources said, was close to the new chief minister and had even looked after Soren?s cases.

This morning, the advocates started gathering on the court premises and there seemed to be confusion on whether the strike was on or had been called off. While advocates did not appear before the division bench headed by the chief justice, some lawyers pleaded before the single judges of the high court.

The special meeting in the hall of the high court was convened by Advocates Association president V. Shivnath. The advocates were unanimous that since no written confirmation had been received from the government, the ongoing strike should be continued.

?Though the government has stated that former advocate-general Anil Kumar Sinha will continue, there is no written confirmation that the previous notification nominating J.S. Sinha has been cancelled. Till this is settled by the government, the strike will be on,? Shivnath said.

The angry advocates accused the newly formed state government of creating a divide and said political considerations cannot be imposed in the courts. ?The appointment of an advocate-general from outside this court and state is an insult to all the other advocates practising in the high court,? Shivnath head.

Advocates Association secretary-general A.K. Chaturvedi said the appointment of a new advocate-general from outside the state would not be acceptable under any circumstances.

The appointment of the advocate-general has to be in confirmation with the provisions as given in the Advocates Act and Advocate Welfare Fund Act, he pointed out.