Karkardooma court lawyers end hunger strike over shifting 34 digital cheque bounce courts after ‘assurance and request' from Delhi HC

Indian Express

08-07-2025

After a written assurance and request from Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, lawyers in Karkardooma Court have called off their four-day hunger strike protesting the decision to shift the judges of 34 digital Negotiable Instruments Act courtrooms that hear cheque bounce cases from six court complexes in Delhi to the Rouse Avenue court complex.
For a week, the lawyers in the court complex situated in Northeast Delhi had been abstaining from work as part of the protest. After the Coordination Committee of All District Courts Bar Associations of Delhi held a meeting with Chief Justice Upadhyaya, the trial court lawyers finally decided to call off their strike.
'The Chief Justice took stock of the situation, requested the Members of the Karkardooma Bar to resume the work forthwith and further assured that all issues and concerns relating to functioning of Digital Courts shall be addressed at the earliest by the High Court at the institutional level,' a circular dated July 7 by Delhi High Court Registrar General Arun Bhardwaj reads.
'…the Chief Justice also conveyed to the Coordination Committee that he fully understands the situation and will take all possible steps to ensure that all courts function smoothly,' the circular stated.
Shortly afterwards, the secretary of the Shahdara Bar Association (SBA), advocate Narveer Dabas, issued a notice. 'In view of the written assurance & request of Hon'ble Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi, (Copy Annexed), it has been unanimously resolved by the Executive Committee of Shahdara Bar Association (Regd)., that all members of SBA (Regd.) shall resume their work from 08.07.2025,' it read.
Of the 34 courtrooms whose judges had been shifted, nine are from Dwarka, seven from Tis Hazari, six from Saket, five from Karkardooma Court, four from Rohini, and three from Patiala House Court. While the judges of the respective courtrooms were shifted to Rouse Avenue Court, the court staff (readers, ahlmads and stenographers), who ensure the functioning of the court, continue to operate from their respective districts.
Rooms have been allotted to these judges on the seventh floor of the Rouse Avenue court complex in Central Delhi. The Delhi High Court, which was behind this move, had cited 'optimal utilisation of available infrastructure and resources' and 'inadequate space' to justify the shift of judges of digital cheque bounce courts in a May 30 notification.
'The remaining arrangement, including support staff deployment and recording of evidence from the respective District Court Complexes, shall continue as per the previous directions/practice until adequate and permanent space is made available in the District Courts concerned to which these Digital NI Act Courts ultimately belong,' the high court notification had stated.
The move did not sit well with the Karkardooma Court lawyers and other trial court lawyers, who had flagged confusion in recording evidence, lack of virtual facilities and connectivity issues as their main problems.