Supreme court notice to bar bodies over strike by lawyers

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to two bar bodies of the Capital on a contempt petition, claiming the recent strike by them on the issue of pecuniary jurisdiction violated the top court’s judgment banning strikes by advocates.

A bench headed by justice Kurian Joseph also asked the Bar Council of India - the apex body of lawyers - to respond to the petition in which a direction has been sought to the BCI to incorporate a clause in the law regulating the legal profession prohibiting strikes.

The Delhi High Court Bar Association and the Delhi Coordination Committee of District Bar Association also have to respond to this plea.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Common Cause, said the during the time when the DHCBA sought abstinence from work, several lawyers who tried to appear in the high court were ill-treated by the bar association members. The petitioner alleged that lawyers who were allowed to perform their professional duties were not allowed to enter the court premises.

Common Cause said in its petition such acts “bring ill repute to the legal profession, and strikes were a clear case of contempt of court.” The SC will take up the matter on October 9.

Judicial work in the trial courts and HC got stalled after both the associations went on strike at the same time over the recommendation to enhance the upper limit of pecuniary jurisdiction of district courts. The recommendation was that civil suits upto ` 2 crore should be heard by the district courts instead of the high court.

The lawyers of district courts abstained from work in protest against the government’s failure to table the bill before Parliament. The DHCBA called for boycotting courts and demanded that the Commercial Courts Bill, 2015, which calls for the creation of dedicated courts for commercial cases at the trial court and high court levels, be tabled along with the bill to raise the pecuniary jurisdiction.