Don’t give us paid holidays, Chief Justice tells lawyers

‘Court boycott affects litigants and not judges’

The Chief Justice of Madras High Court Indira Banerjee has called upon lawyers not to provide “paid holidays” for judges by resorting to court boycott agitations.

She made this remark at the inaugural function of the Labour Court at Kancheepuram on Saturday, where she made it clear that the grievances of lawyers could be settled through talks. “When you take the recourse to stay away from the courts, who suffers? Do the judges suffer? No. We get our salary at the end of the month. We get paid holidays. But we don’t want paid holidays,” she added.

Pointing out that actually the litigants who were in need of an order and the junior members of the Bar would suffer from such agitations, the Chief Justice said the lawyers who depend on the legal profession for livelihood also suffer.

‘Behave responsibly’

Stressing on the crucial role played by the labour courts, the Chief Justice said it was equally important that the labour force should behave in a responsible manner. They had the right to agitate, but they should keeping in mind the fact that if an industry was closed who would lose at the end of the day.

T. Raja, Judge, Madras High Court, thanked the Chief Justice for postponing her sittings at the Madurai Bench of the Madras HC to inaugurate the Labour Court at Kancheepuram.