Ahmedabad: A Dalit man has requested the Gujarat High Court that his petition be heard by another court as the present judge's surname suggested that he was a Brahmin and hence would not be able to do justice to his case.
Petitioner Atul Ramjibhai Makwana, had approached the High Court against the Junagadh district judge who, according to him, was favouring only Brahmins for posts of class III and class IV staff in his office.
Justice R R Tripathi stunned at the submission made by Makwana's lawyer A M Chauhan, dismissed the petition and observed, 'this court has come across such argument for the first time from a learned advocate after it assumed office as Judge of this court'.
Chauhan had submitted, 'the surname suggests that Your Lordship also belongs to the same community (Brahmin) and, therefore, I want that this Court may not take and hear this matter'.
Expressing its displeasure over the submission made by Makwana's lawyer the court was of the opinion that 'this is fit case for issuing 'notice for contempt' against the learned advocate and if he is making this submission on instruction of his client then against him also'.
"But the Court restrains itself from doing so. The learned advocate seems to have made the aforesaid submission only with a view to either bring pressure on the Court and obtain a favourable order or to get his matter out of this Court," the order further said.