Haryana tribunal row: HC lawyers to continue strike

CHANDIGARH: Lawyers of the Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday decided to continue their strike till the withdrawal of the notification regarding constitution of Haryana State Administrative Tribunal.
On Friday, the high court deferred the implementation of the central government’s notification regarding setting up of the tribunal.
A full bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Rakesh Jain had passed these orders while taking suo motu cognizance of the strike because of which the functioning of the court had been paralysed for the last week and an application from the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association.The implementation of the notification regarding tribunal was stayed on the grounds that the constitution of the tribunal is not complete in as much as though chairperson/judicial member has been notified but administrative members are yet to be appointed. Even the seat of the principal bench has also not been notified as required by section 5(8) of the Act of 1985.
The lawyers have been observing strike since July 26 against the Centre’s notification to constitute the tribunal to hear matters related to state government employees.
On Monday, the general house body of the bar was convened in the bar room to decide the further course of action. Keeping in view the developments and the order passed by the high court, a majority of the lawyers said that the order would become infructuous once the principal bench is notified and members appointed, the indefinite strike would continue and the lawyers would settle for nothing less than withdrawal of the notification.
In a bid to bring down pendency and litigation in high court, the Haryana government had decided to set up the tribunal on the lines of Central Administrative Tribunal. On July 24, the central government issued a notification under section 4(2) of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985 constituting Haryana administrative tribunal for the service matters pertaining to the state government employees.
This led to an unprecedented situation where the members of the bar went on strike protesting against the issuance of the aforesaid notification and functioning of the high court stands paralyzed since July 26.