Judges should refrain from using mobile phones while sitting on the dias, as mentioned by the circular published by the Karnataka High Court

In the recent circular as published and notified by the Registrar (Vigilance) of the Karnataka High Court clearly postulates and refrains the judicial officer & Judges not to use their mobile phones while sitting on the dias & specially during the working hours of the Court of Law.

The High Court has also directed judges to refrain from using social media applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype, etc. for their personal or even official communication during the court hours.[1]

IMAGE 1: High Court of Karnataka.

This step taken by the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court was an upshot to the circular of the same court issued by the then Chief Justice Shri H.G. Ramesh on October 30, 2017 banning the usage of phones by the staff members during the court hours, on the basic premise that- “use of mobile phones for personal purposes has resulted in wastage of precious working time, and has also caused disturbance and distraction to other staff members.”[2]

Moreover, a similar circular was formulated by the Allahabad High Court in the year of 2010 for banning the usage of mobile phones in the subordinate court by their respective presiding officers.

The copy of Circular is hereby attached for reference:

[1] Shruti Mahajan, Don't use Mobile Phones, Facebook, Whatsapp during court hours: Karnataka HC to judges, BAR & BENCH (June 17, 2019, 09:04 AM), https://barandbench.com/dont-use-mobile-phones-facebook-whatsapp-during-court-hours-karnataka-hc-to-judges/.