Guj HC advocates abstain from work to protest transfer of 'honest' judge Nikhil Kariel

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court Advocates Association on Thursday decided to abstain from work indefinitely to protest against the Supreme Court collegium's proposal to transfer Justice Nikhil S Kariel from Gujarat to the Patna High Court.

"Justice Kariel is one of the finest, honest, upright and unbiased Judges whose integrity and honesty is being vouched by the entire Bar in one voice," the association said in a resolution.

It added that the proposed transfer was not right and the members of the Bar will protest indefinitely till the issue is resolved by the collegium and the Chief Justice of India.

"It is resolved that the general secretary inform the resolution of the Bar to Hon'ble Chief Justice and request to Ahmedabad Hon'ble the chief justice of Gujarat High Court to convey to other judges of this Hon'ble Court that no adverse orders may be passed in absence of the learned advocates," the resolution added.

On Thursday afternoon, the members of the bar had gathered in the court of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar to protest against the proposed transfer, Live Law reported.

Justice Kariel was born on May 9, 1974 and enrolled as an advocate with Bar Council of Gujarat in the year 1998 and practised in the areas of service law, civil and criminal laws. He was elevated as a judge of the Gujarat High Court on October 4, 2020.