Lawyers stayed away from Calcutta High Court on Tuesday as a mark of protest against the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendation to transfer a Delhi High Court judge “facing serious allegations of impropriety” to Calcutta.

The same day, the Centre issued a gazette notification, confirming that the judge, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, had been transferred to Calcutta High Court.

The notification prompted the three lawyers’ associations — the Calcutta High Court Bar Association, Bar Library Club and the Incorporated Law Society — to issue a joint statement late afternoon, expressing “deep anguish” about the transfer.

“It is unfortunate that notwithstanding our representations, such transfer has been effected,” the letter said. The three associations had earlier written to Chief Justice of India Justice Sanjiv Khanna, urging him to “review, reconsider and withdraw” the decision to transfer Justice Sharma to Calcutta.

The letter sent to the chief justice of Calcutta High Court on Tuesday said the associations’ representatives will not attend the swearing-in ceremony of Justice
Sharma.

The letter also urged the chief justice “not to assign any judicial work” to Justice Sharma and indicated a “possibility” of lawyers not appearing before the judge.

“We wish to indicate to My Lord that our conscience would not permit in welcoming the Judge to our Hon’ble Court and as such none of our members would participate in the swearing-in ceremony.

“We would beseech Your Lordship... not to assign any judicial work to the concerned Judge. In the event any determination is assigned to the Learned Judge, there is a possibility that our members may not appear before the Learned Judge and/or may take such further decision in this regard as would be subsequently decided...,” the letter said.

The associations were “working out other modes of protest... without disturbing the court”, it said.

The Bar Association, which represents advocates, has around 11,000 members; the Bar Library Club, made up of barristers, counts around 2,000 members; and the Incorporated Law Society, the association of attorneys, has around 1,000 members.

The associations met on Tuesday morning and decided to abstain from court proceedings till 3.30pm.

A condolence meeting for a member of the Bar was scheduled at 3.30pm.

Judges attended their respective courts, but very little business was conducted in the absence of lawyers.

More than two lakh cases are pending before the court, according to the high court website. The court sees a daily footfall of around 17,000 people, most of them
litigants.

“The members... have unanimously agreed that the present situation falls under the rarest of rare category as the High Court at Calcutta is being compelled to accept a judge facing serious allegations of impropriety,” said a statement issued after the meeting.

If the transfer eventually happened — they were unaware of the gazette notification at that time — it would be “an imminent threat to the honour, integrity and dignity” of the high court, it said.

“Under such circumstances, it may not be possible for the members of the bar to participate in the proceedings of the High Court today,” it said.

Shankar Prasad Dalapati, secretary of the Bar Association, told reporters after the morning meeting: “Tainted judges in high courts across the country are transferred to other high courts. This is not right. Why should Calcutta High Court be treated like a dumping ground? Our abstaining from work today was a token protest. If the notification announcing his transfer is issued, we will decide the next course of action.”