Ahmedabad, Oct 5 Lawyers across Gujarat on Monday launched an indefinite strike against the Rent Bill, 2026, which affected court proceedings in several places even as Advocate General Kamal Trivedi told the High Court that the bill will "not see the light of day".
The bill, passed by the state legislative assembly on September 11, seeks to replace the Gujarat Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947, and aims to balance rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants.
The lawyers, however, maintain that transferring rent dispute resolution from courts to administrative authorities would weaken judicial safeguards and create difficulties for litigants.
The strike began as the issue remained unresolved despite the lawyers launching protests for three consecutive days.
The Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association (GHCAA) also called upon lawyers to abstain from work.
In Ahmedabad, no private lawyers appeared before the High Court and the entry gate meant for lawyers was closed. Proceedings in several courtrooms ended early and scheduled matters were adjourned.
A bike rally was taken out from the Ahmedabad City Civil and Sessions Court to the Income Tax Circle, where lawyers staged a protest near Mahatma Gandhi's statue.
GHCAA president Yatin Oza said the association had decided to abstain from work for two days and review the situation thereafter.
He claimed the Rent Bill would cause hardship to the common people.
"A law like the one passed by the Gujarat Legislative Assembly is something that wouldn't even be introduced in North Korea," Oza said, while demanding the withdrawal of the bill forwarded to the Governor.
The lawyers are opposing the bill mainly over its provision to shift the authority to decide landlord-tenant disputes from civil courts and Small Cause Courts to administrative officials such as Deputy Collectors or Deputy Municipal Commissioners.
They have demanded that the existing law be retained.
"If the passed bill is converted into law, the powers of the trial court will shift into the hands of administrative officers at the Collector or Deputy Municipal Commissioner level," a lawyer said.
Another member of the legal fraternity said transferring these powers to individuals who lack experience with trial courts, the law, and Supreme Court or High Court judgments will increase brokering and corruption.
Lawyers said the proposed system would affect both tenants and landlords and reduce the role of courts in deciding rent-related disputes.
Jagat Choksi, president of the City Civil Bar Association, and Jaishankar Prajapati, president of the Small Cause Court Bar Association, were among those who led the protest in Ahmedabad.
Lawyers said the bill was introduced and passed without adequate consultation despite representations made to the government and senior officials about its provisions.
The issue was also discussed on Sunday in a video conference with Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, Advocate General Kamal Trivedi and members of the Bar Council of Gujarat.
Trivedi told the High Court on Monday that lawyers should withdraw the ongoing protest, pointing to the Supreme Court's judgments against lawyers striking work.
Trivedi told the bench of Justice MJ Shelat that the state government had assured (Bar Council members) that it won’t proceed with the Bill and would request the Governor not to sign.
"Yesterday, we had a meeting with all the Bar Council members in the presence of the Deputy CM. The government has promised that this bill will not be signed by the Governor. This Bill will not see the light of day. We will try to see that the original Act is restored," he told Justice Shelat.
Under these circumstances, I feel it is a very sad incident that we are still striking even after a resolution has been reached, Trivedi said.
