National   

SC reserves verdict on lawyers' right to strike

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI Sept. 26. A five-Judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions on the question whether lawyers have a right to go on strike and abstain from courts and such boycotts amounted to professional misconduct.

The Bench comprising Justice G.B. Pattanaik, Justice M.B. Shah, Justice Doraiswamy Raju, Justice S.N. Variava and Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari reserved judgment after hearing counsel for the Bar Council of India (BCI), various Bar Associations and State Bar Councils.

The amicus curiae in the case, Deepankar Gupta, submitted that as per the latest ruling of the apex court lawyers had no right to boycott the court proceedings as it would amount to acting against the interest of the clients.

Counsel for the BCI, V.R. Reddy submitted that the BCI had convened a meeting on September 28, wherein it proposed to evolve a mechanism for resorting to strikes in the rarest of rare cases.

Counsel for the Supreme Court Bar Association and Tamil Nadu Bar Council, M.N. Krishnamani submitted that lawyers must have a right to agitate or protest in certain situations for a limited period, say for a day.

Appearing for the Madras Bar Association, K. Subramanian said the court should look into the ground realities to appreciate this problem. He said if there was an imminent danger to the independence of the judiciary and the litigant public, lawyers could suspend work for a minimum period that too in rarest of rare cases. He also suggested that a standing committee on professional ethics could be established by the BCI on the lines of the one established in United States, America Bar Association.

In his affidavit, R. Gandhi, president of the MBA traced the circumstances in which lawyers resorted to strike. He pointed out that on certain occasions, lawyers had to ventilate their grievances by abstaining from courts pressing for action against the erring judicial officers. Therefore if this right was totally denied, the high-handedness of the judicial officers would go totally unchecked and there would be no forum for lawyers to express their grievances, he added.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Maintaining peace imperative: BJP
• Attack not a revenge: Modi
• 'IPC forbade Jayalalithaa from buying Govt. land'
• 'Another tall tale from Pak.'
• Bandh near-total in Gujarat, passes off peacefully
• PDP threat to pull out of polls
• 'Side-effects keep women off injectable contraceptive'
• SC notice to cola firms for defacing rocks
• Sukhoi-30 MKI induction today
• Move to allow foreign varsities opposed
• Integrated energy policy on the anvil
• Thackeray unhappy with Centre's approach
• Curbs on visa applications
• 'Norway did not seek permission'
• SC reserves verdict on lawyers' right to strike
• Indo-U.S. naval exercises begin
• 'No one in Kashmir wants the Valley to go to Pak.'
• Plagiarism scandal brewing
• Country paying dearly for neglecting environment: PM
• Left to observe 'communal harmony day'
• 'Returning reference will be retrograde step'
• Nanavati Commission term extended
• Samata to suspend MP
• 'Maran stable'

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu