Chennai: Chief Justice of Madras high court, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul’s assertion on Monday to ensure justice to public in a time bound manner, has raised hopes in litigants they will get justice without waiting for a long time.
Since the last two months, litigants have been facing hardship due to lawyers boycott of courts.
“We are part of the three pillars of democracy. Our obligation to society starts from co-operating with the institution to see that the public at large is able to get justice in a time- bound manner. The number of people approaching the court is bound to increase. It is necessary for judiciary as a whole to work to see how we could deliver justice at the earliest”, said the Chief Justice in his Independence Day address here.
A peaceful atmosphere is missing in courts. It is the Bar versus Bench in the state. Litigants suffer untold hardship and they are not able to get speedy justice due to advocates’ agitation demanding withdrawal of newly introduced amendments to rules under section 34 (1) of Advocates Act by the high court.
The high court has amended its 46-year-old statutory rules, paving the way for debarring from practice advocates who browbeat or abuse judges, lay siege to court halls, tamper with court records, appear in court under influence of alcohol, spread unsubstantiated allegations against judges or accept money either in the name of a judge or on the pretext of influencing him.
Soon after summer vacation, the Madras high court advocates association on June 1 requested the chief Justice to immediately withdraw the new rules and started various forms of protest. The Federation of District and Subordinate Courts Bar Associations of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on June 10 announced boycott of courts from June 12.
On June 27, MHAA decided to abstain from courts from the next day. Despite several assurances from high court that no action will be taken against advocates under new rules and invitation to Bar associations to give their suggestions on the issue, advocates continued their protest. The advocates also formed a joint action committee to deal with the issue. Meanwhile, the Bar Council of India suspended 126 advocates.
