Vacation blues, advocates shock Kerala High Court

Kochi: Kerala High Court faced an embarrassing situation during its first sitting on Wednesday after the long summer vacation, as advocates, whose cases were listed before a division bench, gave it a miss. 

A division bench comprising Justice K.T. Sankaran and Justice J.B. Sudheendra Kumar  was angry and wrote a letter to the Registrar-General asking the Bar Council of Kerala to take action against the advocates.

The 23 cases listed before the court were criminal appeals filed by convicts imprisoned in various jails. All of them were posted for final hearing and interestingly some of the cases were listed as per the request of the convicts, who had written letters to the High Court seeking  speedy redressal.

“The appellants who are in jail are not aware that their counsel are not appearing before the court,” the bench said in the letter.  The bench  started its proceedings at 10.15 a.m.,  but to its utter shock there were no advocates  to argue the cases.

The only counsel present was Mr Basil Attipetty, a public prosecutor representing the state,  who was not part of any cases.

“In any case, where the counsel for the appellant does not appear,  the absence of the counsel should be reported to the Bar Council of Kerala,” the bench said.

For the first time, the  High Court witnessed 10 division benches working at the same time. Before the court vacations,  seven new judges had been  sworn in taking the tally of the judges to the full quota of 38, a record.