APEX COURT ISSUES NOTICE TO HIGH COURT.

Tamil Nadu Apex court issues notice to High Court J. Venkatesan Bench posts hearing in PIL petition to February 27 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Advocates in Tamil Nadu frequently go on strike paralysing Madras High Court” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Registrar General, Madras High Court, Bar Council of India, Bar Council of Tamil Nadu, Madras HC Advocates Association and Madras Bar Association on a petition to declare illegal, the call for boycott of courts given by the associations. A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice J.M. Panchal and Justice A.K. Ganguly issued notice on a public interest petition filed by a former teacher at the National Law School, Bangalore, after hearing senior counsel Harish Salve and counsel S. Balaji. Mr. Salve submitted that since the beginning of 2009, the High Court, lawyers had attended courts only for nine days. Earlier, the strike was for something that affected the court and the Bar, but now it was for Sri Lanka or other reasons. Without directly referring to the assault on Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy in the court on February 17, Mr. Salve said that the matter required consideration by the apex court. Accordingly the Bench while issuing notice posted the matter for hearing on February 27. The petitioner said that advocates in Tamil Nadu frequently went on strike paralysing the Madras High Court, its Madurai Bench and district courts in the State. The apex court should call for a report from the High Court on the number of days lost due to the strike. He said there was an increasing trend of politicisation of the Bar and increasing violent tendencies had crept in. There was no justification for abstention of work for a large number of days. He pointed out that recently advocates hijacked a bus and took it to Shastri Bhavan at Nungambakkam to protest against the self immolation of a youth in support of the plight of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. Subsequently, 48 advocates were reported to have ransacked certain shops around the High Court. He said despite the judgment of the apex court declaring strike by lawyers illegal, there had been frequent strike in Tamil Nadu causing hardship to litigants and affecting the rights of accused languishing in jails. Hence, the present petition. More photos Related Stories: A law unto themselves

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