Rajasthan High Court Lawyers Association declares total strike till September 6 against acting CJ Sanjeev Prakash Sharma

The Rajasthan High Court Lawyers Association has declared a complete strike till Sunday, September 6, demanding that acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma be divested of his charge and a permanent Chief Justice be appointed to the High Court.

The decision to go one strike was taken at a general house meeting on Monday. Association President Dilip Singh Udawat made the announcement following the meeting.

"In our emergency meeting, we all concurred that what is happening is against the sanctity of justice and we must raise our voices. So we have decided to go on strike until Sunday. Until then, we will send representations to the Chief Justice of India and the President," he said.

The move follows commencement of strikes by advocates earlier today at both benches of the High Court. They were protesting against Justice Sharma and police was called in to disperse lawyers at the Jaipur premises.

Visuals showed protesting advocates raising slogans against Justice Sharma, including "Gali gali mein shor hai, humara mukhiya chor hai" (The word on the street is that our chief is a thief).

The protest follows the recent letters by Justice Sandeep Mehta of the Supreme Court to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant accusing Justice Sharma of manipulating case listings and misusing his administrative powers. Justice Mehta had asked the CJI to appoint a Chief Justice from another State to head the Rajasthan High Court "with immediate effect".

CJI Surya Kant had subsequently said in a press statement that the Collegium was examining the allegations and that Justice Sharma would be given an opportunity to respond before any conclusion was reached.