Three lawyers, including a senior counsel, practising in the Madras High Court Bench here since its inception in July 2004, have written a common letter to Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Bar Council of India chairman Mannan Kumar Mishra “to restore smooth relationship between the Bar and the Bench for effective and peaceful functioning of courts in…Tamil Nadu.”
Stating that they were deeply concerned over recent happenings, the lawyers — M. Ajmal Khan, T. Lajapathi Roy and G. Prabhu Rajadurai — said that the courts were not functioning smoothly and effectively and “the relationship between the Bar and the Bench is strained to its all-time low”.
“The Bar and the Bench are two facades of a coin. The comity between the two has built our institution. Therefore… we appeal to the honourable Chief Justice of this court, who is parens patriae (highest authority) of this institution, to use his good office and leadership over the Bar and the Bench to solve the problem…,” they said.
Making it clear that they did not wish to justify the conduct of a section of lawyers which led to the strained relationship, they said: “The institutional interest is paramount and it must prevail over the recent differences that erupted. Unless we resolve the issue now, irreparable damage would be caused to this institution which would not be in the interest of either the Bar or the Bench.”
Asked what prompted them to write the letter, Mr. Khan said that they were friends since they did five-year law course at the Government Law College here from 1983.
Moral responsibility
“Thereafter, we migrated to different places and established our legal practice here only after the institution of the Madurai Bench. We have grown professionally along with the Bench. I have also been the president of Madurai Bench of High Court Advocates Association. We were pained by an observation made by a judge recently that there were suggestions from some quarters to close down the Madurai Bench for some time. Therefore, we thought that it is our moral responsibility to make a fervent appeal to the Chief Justice to put an end to the unpleasantness,” he added.
The senior counsel also rubbished accusations of the trio backing the court boycott calls and protests by a section of lawyers.
