Lawyers' boycott of judge to end after roster change

Chandigarh, March 17 (IANS) The Punjab and Haryana High Court lawyers' boycott of Justice Uma Nath Singh's court is likely to end Thursday with the duty roster of the judges being changed by Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur.

As per the new roster for judges starting Thursday, Justice Uma Nath Singh will sit in a division bench with the court's puisne judge (second seniormost judge after the chief justice) Justice J.S. Khehar.

Justice Singh, who is himself quite senior in the high court, will now sit as the junior judge in the division bench.

Justice Singh had last month passed remarks against a lawyer here, following which the lawyer complained to the bar association. The association took up the matter with the chief justice, which led to a stand-off between the association and the judge.

Following this, the lawyers started an indefinite boycott of his court. They refused to attend his court till he was transferred from here.

'This is an honourable solution devised by the chief justice. We welcome it and the bar will end its boycott March 18,' said bar association president Rupinder S. Khosla.

Justice Singh was last year also controversially involved in an exchange with lawyers after he ordered that a lawyer be taken to a mental asylum. The lawyers had boycotted his court for a month that time as well.