Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Terming it ‘violation of Supreme Court’s judgment’, principal bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday directed advocates abstaining from judicial proceedings to attend the same or be ready to face contempt of court.
Initiating suo moto PIL following MP State Bar Council chairman’s call to advocates to abstain from court work from March 23, a division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Malimathand and Justice Vishal Mishra issued a six-point directives for the advocates.
The State Bar Council chairman had issued order to abstain from work unless the scheme related to disposal of 25 identified cases every quarter was not withdrawn by March 22.
Making State Bar Council chairman and president of all bar associations of the state respondents, the HC noted, “The Supreme Court has time and again held that a call to abstain from work is illegal. The lawyers cannot go on a strike. Even assuming it is a rarest of rare case, where it has to be resorted to, then the guidelines postulated in para 35 have to be followed. In terms whereof, the permission of the Chief Justice should have been obtained well in advance. The respondent No1 (the State Bar Council chairman) has failed to do so. He has not compliedwith the orders of the Supreme Court.”
The HC said, “There are almost 20 lakh cases pending in the district court judiciary and more than 4 lakh cases pending in the High Court. Every effort is being made by the High Court to reduce the pendency. The action of the respondent No1 seeking to abstain from court work is opposed to the well established principles of the legal profession. The respondent No1 cannot call for an illegal act to be done.”
The HC added, “’Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah’ when translated into English means that those who protect Dharma will be protected by Dharma or in otherwords, it also means that those who destroy Dharma, Dharma destroys them. Therefore, in this context, when it is applied to the present scenario, it would mean that those who protect the law will be protected by law.”
The HC said that the respondent No1 has violated the orders of the SupremeCourt and has also shown scant respect and disobeyed the directions issued by the Bar Council of India.
“This court cannot be a mute spectator to the blatant disobedience of the orders of the Supreme Court… If advocates themselves abstain from work due to the call given by the respondent No1, it is indeed a very sad day for the State of Madhya Pradesh,” the court noted.
THE HC DIRECTIVES
(i) All advocates throughout the State of Madhya Pradesh are hereby directed to attend to their court work forthwith. They shall represent their clients in the respective cases before the respective courts forthwith;
(ii) If any lawyer deliberately avoids the court, it shall be presumed that there is disobedience of this order and he will face serious consequences including initiation of proceedings for contempt of court under the Contempt of Courts Act;
(iii) If any lawyer prevents any other lawyer from attending the court work, the same would be considered as disobedience of these directions and he will face serious consequences including initiation of proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act;
(iv) Each of the judicial officers is directed to submit a report as to which lawyer has deliberately abstained from attending the court;
(v) The judicial officers shall also mention the names of advocates who have prevented other advocates from entering the court premises or from conducting their cases in the court;
(vi) Such advocates shall be dealt with seriously which may even include proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act as well as being debarred from practice.
