Bar opposes plot allotment to HC judges

Judges Not In Master-Servant Tie With State'
Even as the Supreme Court is likely to hear the issue of allotment of plots to Gujarat high court judges on Tuesday , the Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association (GHAA) has urged the apex court to cancel the allotment.
Opposing the allotment of plots to 42 high court judges at the Neetibaug Co-operative Housing Society, in front of the HC campus, GHAA' affidavit stated that the government resolutions by which land allotment took place should be “quashed and the state government should be directed to resume the land forthwith and to put it to any other public use or auction“.

GHAA's former president Yatin Oza made it clear in the affidavit that the Bar decided to support former acting Chief Justice V M Sahai's suo motu PIL “only with a view to see that high standards and independence of the judiciary is maintained.“

Requesting to transfer the proceedings on plot allotment issue, GHAA said that the judges have “stooped“ by obtaining obligation from the state government on conditions laid down by the executive. “The very same judge is expected to, on judicial side of its functioning, to decide a matter to which the said ex ecutive is a party. It not only affects the independence of judiciary but also casts a serious disrepute in the public mind.“

The affidavit maintained that the state government cannot even allot plots to judges even by making a policy because is does not share with the judges a master-servant relationship like IAS and IPS. The judges cannot accept anything from the state government except as provided in the High Court Judges Act.

The Bar association has also alleged irregularities in plot allotment and highlighted how extra parcels of land was given for the judicial officers' disposal in form of roads. It has also said that the houses were constructed on a plot that was `gauchar land'.The HC itself has deprecated the practice of construction on grazing land by passing various orders.

Source: TNN