A delegation of lawyers from the Gujarat High Court met Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai on Thursday to urge the Supreme Court Collegium to reconsider its proposal to transfer Justice Sandeep Bhatt to the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association (GHCAA) has been abstaining from work since August 26 to protest the proposed transfer.

The Bar body also formed a delegation committee consisting of GHCAA President Brijesh J Trivedi, Senior Advocate Asim Pandya and Advocates Hardik Brahmbhatt, Babubhai Mangukiya, Dipen Dave and Bhargav Bhatt.

This delegation met with CJI Gavai and Justice Surya Kant today and submitted a representation expressing the Gujarat Bar's anguish and opposition to the proposed transfer of "one of the most honest and hardworking, industrious, courteous, upfront and dignified judges".

"Hon’ble Justice Sandeep N. Bhatt was appointed in 2021 and during the short span of 4 years, he has disposed 19,000 cases, which shows his hardworking style and integrity towards the institution and members of the Bar and his integrity as a Judge is beyond question and the entire Bar pays respect towards the functioning of the Court, as conducted by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sandeep Bhatt," the representation stated.

The strongly worded representation also raised serious allegations with regard to the functioning of the administrative side of the High Court led by Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal.

The delegation hinted that the transfer of Justice Bhatt was the outcome of certain judicial orders passed by him against the High Court's administrative side.

It questioned whether the transfer proposal, which was made by the Collegium in consultation with administrative side of the High Court, was the result of an incident from earlier this year when Justice Bhatt raised serious questions over the conduct of a judicial officer in the High Court registry.

The controversy involves Registrar AT Ukrani, who had failed to return physical files of 15 cases to a Surat court for seven months after his transfer in 2019.

A day after the Justice Bhatt passed this order, his roster was changed by Chief Justice Agarwal and he was shifted to a division bench headed by a judge senior to him. This had led to the GHCAA calling an urgent meeting to pass a resolution condemning the move.

Later, Justice Bhatt was moved to the jurisdiction of service matters. While sitting as a single-judge in this jurisdiction, Justice Bhatt made observations about the non-implementation of earlier directions for the installation of CCTV cameras in all judicial departments of the registry.

The observations were later expunged by a Division Bench of the High Court.

The delegation argued that in both cases, Justice Bhatt had maintained decorum while raising valid concerns regarding matters that affect justice delivery.

"In fact, if the language in all the orders, passed by the Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sandeep Bhatt is read, the Hon'ble Judge has never crossed the legal "Laxman Rekha" and maintained very high standards," the delegation asserted in its representation.

The lawyers further contended that transfer of High Court judges is not a matter of routine and thus transferring Justice Bhatt in this manner will seem like a stigmatic transfer. This could ruin not only Justice Bhatt's reputation, but also the integrity of the justice delivery system as a whole, they argued.

Since they were unable to meet the rest of the Collegium members, the delegation submitted additional copies of the representation to be handed over to the member judges.

The Collegium took the decision to transfer Justice Bhatt to Madhya Pradesh in its meetings held on August 25 and 26.

Justice Bhatt graduated in science from Kotak Science College at Rajkot in 1988 and obtained his Law degree in 1992. He enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Gujarat on January 23, 1993.

He began his legal career in 1993 at the Rajkot District Court, practicing with his father, NS Bhatt.

In 1994, he started practice at the Gujarat High Court under the guidance of late Girishbhai D Bhatt.

He was elevated to as a judge of the High Court in October 2021.