On Friday, the Apex Court held as illegal the strike called by Advocates on every Saturday for the past thirty-five years in 3 district Courts of Uttarakhand.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra & Justice M R Shah said the strike called by Advocates on flimsy grounds is tantamount to contempt.
The Top Court issued notices to the Bar Council of India (BCI) & State Bar Council seeking their response.
On Feb 21, the Supreme Court rapped the Advocates for resorting to such a “joke” and holding strikes for “flimsy reasons”, like a bomb blast in a Pakistan School & earthquake in Nepal, on all working Saturdays for more than the past 35 years.
The issue came to the notice of the SC while it was hearing an appeal against the verdict of the High Court of Uttarakhand which had held as “illegal” the strikes or boycotts of Court work on all Saturdays by Advocates in Dehradun & in several parts of Haridwar & Udham Singh Nagar.
In its Sept 25, 2019 verdict, the HC had referred to the 266th report of the Law Commission, which had analysed data on loss of working days on account of strikes by Advocates & had opined that it affects the functioning of Courts & contributes to the mounting pendency of cases.
Source Link
Picture Source :
