NEW DELHI: Cracking the whip on striking lawyers paralysing judicial work, the Supreme Court has said it expected the courts to dispense justice by hearing litigants if advocates remained adamant on their protests, even while mulling the option of sending cases to courts in neighbouring states.
“We will expect the courts to perform their task to best of their abilities even if lawyers refuse to assist the courts. Litigants cannot be without access to justice and one wonders if an alternative would have to be explored in adjacent states for access to justice if advocates continue to be on strike,” said a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph.
The order to this effect came in a case in which a litigant has sought transfer of his case owing to continuing agitation by lawyers in Odisha. The strike is to protest against the decision of the SC collegium clearing names of some candidates, who practised in the SC and not clearing some other candidates. “This can hardly be a ground for the lawyers to abstain from work,” the bench said.
The SC was informed by by Orissa HC counsel Sibo Sankar Misra that judicial work has come to a standstill— both in the HC and practically all district courts. The bench said “this means that access to justice for a common man is not available” and warned that conduct of the agitating lawyers “really falls within the domain of contempt of court”.
Seeking personal appearance of Chairman of Orissa State Bar Council and President of Orissa HC Bar Association on November 6 before the SC, the bench also desired personal presence of Bar Council of India chairman Manan Kumar Mishra to inform the court “what steps it proposed to take in respect of the conduct of advocates who have violated the direction of the court in earlier judgements (banning strike by lawyers and terming it as contempt of court)”. It also sought assistance from attorney general K K Venugopal in the case.
Misra also informed the SC that the Orissa HC Bar Association has objected to his appearance in the case before the SC and resolved to suspend him from the association. He said the Assocation also wrote a letter to the Bar Council of Orissa to initiate action against him, and sent a letter to the state government to remove him from the panel of government lawyers.
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