Several advocates practising in the High Court of Karnataka were taken aback on Tuesday when a handful of their colleagues, without prior communication or announcement, stopped them from entering the Chief Justice’s court hall to argue cases on behalf of their litigants.
While the advocates, who did not allow the others to enter the court hall, orally claimed that the Karnataka State Bar Council (KSBC) on September 27 “passed” a resolution asking them to abstain from the proceedings of the Chief Justice’s court hall, the other advocates questioned the very existence of such a resolution passed by the KSBC.
The advocates, who wanted to enter the court hall, claimed that KSBC had only urged the advocates to abstain from proceedings of all courts across the State on Wednesday and there was no communication about abstaining the proceedings of the Chief Justice’s court on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, judicial proceedings in the Chief Justice’s court hall were not held in the morning session as a Division Bench comprising Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar adjourned all the listed cases till the afternoon session. As the advocates were not allowed to enter the court hall even in the afternoon, the Bench adjourned all cases till Wednesday.
President of Bengaluru Advocates’ Association H.C. Shivaramu clarified that the association had nothing to do with the actions of the advocates who stopped others from entering the court hall. He said the association was only supporting the council’s call for boycotting court proceedings on Wednesday.
Resolution passed
However, Y.S. Sadashiva Reddy, member, special committee of KSBC, told The Hindu that a resolution was passed on September 27 giving a call to the advocates to abstain from proceedings of the Chief Justice’s court hall on October 3 as “the council had received several complaints against the Chief Justice”, but the same could not be signed and officially communicated because of the Dasara holidays.
Courts likely to be affected today
The proceedings before all courts across the State is likely to be affected on Wednesday following the Karnataka State Bar Council’s resolution asking all advocates to abstain from court proceedings. This is to “protest against denial” of elevation to Jayant M. Patel (who resigned from the post of judge recently), and to implement transparency in the Supreme Court’s collegium system in the process of appointment and elevation of judges.
