Karnataka High Court CJ Makes Appeal To Bar To Refrain From Boycotting Court Work

Karnataka High Court CJ Makes Appeal To Bar To Refrain From Boycotting Court Work

The Chief Justice (CJ) of Karnataka High Court (HC) Abhay Sreenivas Oka has appealed to the Member of the Bar Associations of Karnataka (Bar) to refrain from abstaining/ boycotting of the Court work and the Court proceedings, irrespective of the genuineness of the cause and not to indulge in such illegalities

The CJ of Karnataka HC gave a public message wherein he said, "I appeal to the members of the Bar to co-operate with the Court for disposal of the maximum number of cases".

CJ Oka highlighted the issue after he received reports from District Courts regarding resolutions passed by various Bar Associations in Districts of Mandya, Davangere calling on its members to discontinue Court work.

Justice Oka further appealed to the public, "You are all well aware that due to the Covid-19 pandemic the Courts in the state could not function normally for a few months and it caused hardship and sufferings to the litigants and also to the members of the Bar.

The High Court of Karnataka took all possible steps to restore the normal functioning of the Courts in a phased manner and now it is nearing complete normalcy. It is distressing to note that even under these circumstances; the members of some of the Bar Associations have resorted to acts of abstaining from or boycotting the Court for various reasons.

He further stated, "Such acts of abstaining from the Courts cause interference in the administration of justice. Such acts also cause inconvenience and prejudice to the litigants. During the pandemic, notwithstanding the challenges, the District and Trial Courts in the State have started functioning. But certain Bar Associations have taken recourse to the illegal method of boycotting Courts. Such a step will adversely affect the members of the Bar."

The appeal also quotes from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's famous 'Grammar of Anarchy' speech in the Constituent Assembly 25th November 1949, which states, "If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation, and Satyagraha.

When there was no way left for constitutional methods for achieving economic and social objectives, there was a great deal of justification for unconstitutional methods. But where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods. These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us."

The CJ has also referred to judgments passed by the Apex Court in the cases of Ex-Captain Harish Uppal v. Union of India and others, (2003) 2 SCC 45 and in Krishnakant Tamrakar v. State of Madhya Pradesh, (2018) 17 SCC 27, for appealing all Bar members to refrain from abstaining and boycotting Court work.

The CJ also emphasized that lawyers are the officers of the Court and they enjoy a special status in the society. Hence, each advocate has "Obligations and duties to ensure smooth functioning of the Court."