Ahmedabad, Oct 6 — The Bar Council of Gujarat on Tuesday announced that the statewide strike by lawyers over the Gujarat Rent Bill-2026 has been deferred after the state government assured it that the provision transferring powers to decide rent disputes from the judiciary to the executive would be withdrawn.
The decision followed a meeting lasting more than an hour between members of the Bar Council of Gujarat, office-bearers of the Ahmedabad Bar Association and Ahmedabad Small Causes Court Bar Association, and Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, Advocate General Kamal Trivedi, Chief Government Pleader Gurucharan Shirk, Law Department Secretary U.M. Bhatt, and the Revenue and Home secretaries.
According to a statement issued by the Bar Council, the government proposed forming a committee comprising representatives of the Bar Council, Ahmedabad Bar Association and Ahmedabad Small Causes Court Bar Association.
The committee will be constituted on Wednesday and will discuss the provisions of the proposed legislation with the Law Secretary.
“The government assured that the amendment under which powers were proposed to be taken from the judiciary and given to the executive would be withdrawn and that the powers would remain with the court and the judiciary,” the Bar Council said.
The Council said the committee would examine the shortcomings in the Gujarat Rent Bill, 2026 and submit representations to the government for necessary changes.
The government, in turn, would consider the issues and take steps to resolve them. The decision brings to an end, for now, the indefinite statewide abstention from court proceedings announced by the Bar Council on October 5.
Lawyers had been protesting against provisions that proposed shifting the adjudication of rent-related disputes from judicial forums to administrative authorities.
The Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association had also announced a two-day boycott of court work on October 5 and 6 in support of the agitation.
The proposed legislation had led to court proceedings being disrupted across Gujarat, with lawyers arguing that the transfer of adjudicatory functions to executive authorities would undermine the role of judicial forums in deciding tenancy disputes.
The Gujarat Assembly passed the Gujarat Rent Bill, 2026, in September.
The proposed framework provides for a Rent Authority headed by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Collector or Assistant Municipal Commissioner. In contrast, Rent Courts would be headed by officers not below the rank of Additional Collector or Deputy Municipal Commissioner.
Appeals would be heard by Rent Tribunals headed by District Judges or Additional District Judges. The Bill also proposes written rental agreements and caps security deposits at three months’ rent.
The lawyers’ principal objection, however, centred on the proposed role of executive authorities in adjudicating rent disputes.
The Bar Council had earlier said the transfer would take such matters away from the judiciary and place them before an already burdened bureaucracy.
Apart from the Rent Bill, today's meeting also discussed issues relating to the proposed Advocate Protection Act and various concerns of notaries regarding the issuance of tickets.
With the government agreeing to examine the lawyers’ concerns through the proposed committee, the Bar Council said the statewide strike would be deferred, and lawyers would resume court proceedings from Wednesday.