Nearly two years after a High Court-constituted committee headed by retired Justice K. Chandru submitted a report containing recommendations to end cartelisation of lawyers in Egmore, nothing much appears to have changed on the ground in the city’s magistrate courts. A syndicate of lawyers in Egmore (now functioning in Lily Pond Complex) and Saidapet Metropolitan Magistrate courts continues to intimidate advocates who do not belong to their Bar associations, when they appear before the magistrates in onnection with a case.
This cartel of lawyers, variedly called ‘Bike gang’ and ‘Gate gang’, usually insists that the case brief be handed over to it or demands a fee running into thousands of rupees to allow the advocate from another Bar to appear in a case. The lawyers are mostly found loitering near the entrance to the metropolitan magistrate courts. They corner anyone who is an “outsider”. In some cases, they collude with policemen to convince an accused, who is being produced for remand, to engage their services to get bail.
A woman lawyer practising in the Madras High Court had this experience to narrate. “Three months ago, I went to Saidapet court to appear in a cheque bounce case. A group of lawyers surrounded me in the court hall in front of the presiding judicial officer and intimidated me into withdrawing from the case and hand it over to them. Since then, I have stopped taking up any case there. I simply pass on case briefs to local lawyers,” she said, requesting anonymity.
Any visitor to the Saidapet magistrate court complex is immediately surrounded by five or six men in black gowns and told to use their services to file a case. Lawyers from other Bar associations are allowed to appear only if they put the local lawyer’s name as ‘advocate on record’ in the case, for which an exorbitant fee is collected. The situation is similar in the Egmore court complex. Many of these lawyers have a degree from a law college in Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka which do not insist on attendance.
“The moment the cartel of lawyers senses that a litigant has come in connection with a criminal case or to obtain a decree, they corner him and hold a kangaroo court to settle the dispute or force him to give them the case brief,” said an advocate. Another syndicate specialises in ‘double bail applications’ in collusion with some police personnel. The lawyer, who has no case brief, unilaterally files a bail application for an accused. When the advocate engaged by the accused appears in court, he is informed that a bail application has already been moved. Ultimately, the advocate has to either pay money or opt out.
Madras High Court Advocates’ Association President G. Mohanakrishnan denies the existence of cartels. “There is no such ‘bike gang’ or ‘gate gang’ which harasses litigants. If anyone gives evidence about their existence, we will take action.”
