Lawyers call 5-day cease work in Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court Bar Association today announced a five-day long cease work from Monday demanding immediate filling up of vacant posts of judges at the high court.
The high court now has only 31 judges, while its sanctioned strength is 72, Bar Association president Uttam Majumdar said adding that judicial work is being seriously hampered owing to the situation.
"With the Union government failing to take any action to fill up the vacancies, we have been forced to call a strike from February 19 to February 23, which is from next Monday to Friday," Majumdar said.
There were 2,22,648 cases pending before the Calcutta high court as on December 31, 2017, according to available official data.

Lawyers also sat on a dharna and took out a rally around the high court premises today demanding appointment of judges to fill up vacant posts.
Majumdar said the high court also does not have a permanent chief justice for a long time and demanded immediate appointment of the same.
"The Supreme Court Collegium has cleared the name of Acting Chief Justice Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya to be the next Chief Justice, but the Centre is yet to take steps to notify the appointment," he said.