A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court challenging the validity of a recent amendment made by the Madras High Court to statutory rules framed under Section 34 of the Advocates Act thereby empowering judges and judicial officers to debar from practice lawyers who browbeat or indulge in other misconducts.
K.K. Ramesh, Managing Trustee of Centre for Public Interest Litigation, a private body, had filed the petition on the ground that hundreds of litigants were affected due to continued boycott of court proceedings by bar associations across the State apart from processions and various other forms of protest organised by lawyers demanding withdrawal of the amendment.
Stressing on the need for amity between the Bench and the Bar, the petitioner said the entire Bar need not be painted with the same brush just because a handful of lawyers were indulging in unsavoury activities. He urged the court to call for the Government Gazette in which the amendment had been notified on May 20 and quash it as illegal, arbitrary and against natural justice. The amendment to the statutory rules paved way for debarring from practice lawyers who browbeat or abuse judges, lay siege to court halls, tamper with court records, appear in court under the influence of liquor, spread unsubstantiated allegations against judges or accept money either in the name of a judge or on the pretext of influencing him. Though lawyers fear that the amendment was draconian in nature and could be misused against lawyers, the High Court had maintained that rules were amended in accordance with directions issued by the Supreme Court.
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