Lawyers' Strike Call: Karnataka High Court Drops Contempt Proceedings After Davanagere Bar Association Apologizes

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday dropped the suo motu criminal contempt petition filed against officer bearers of the District Bar Association at Davanagere. The suo-motu proceedings were based on the association's open call to its members for abstaining from court work. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice N S Sanjay Gowda accepted the unconditional apology tendered by the members of the bar association and their undertaking to abide by the Judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Ex-Captain Harish Uppal v. Union of India & Others and Krishnakant Tamrakar v. State of Madhya Pradesh. The bench was further assured that there shall be no boycott of courts henceforth. The court in its order said,"The undertakings given by the accused are accepted and taken on record. The apology tendered by the accused is accepted and the petition is disposed of." Recently, the court had disposed of the proceedings against the office bearers of Bar Associations at Maddur, Mandya, Pandavpura, Malavalli and Krishnarajpete. In its order issued in February initiating the contempt proceedings, the court had said "It must be noted here that in the wake of Covid-19, all courts were adversely affected which brought about suffering to the litigants as well as to the members of the Bar. Now that normalcy has been substantially restored, bar associations cannot take recourse to strike/boycott." The bench while issuing the direction took into account the report submitted by the Registry which gave details of Bar Associations in different districts which called on its members to abstain from court work. As per the report, District Mandya Bar Association abstained from court work on January 4, 2021. The Bar Association at Maddur gave a call to abstain from court work on January 4 and February 6. The Bar Association at Srirangapatna, Malavalli and Krishnarajpete abstained from court work on January 4. The Bar Association at Pandavapura abstained from court work on January 4, 15 and 30. The Bar Association at Davanagere abstained from work on January 29 and February 8. Earlier, on account of these incidents, Chief Justice Oka had appealed to the Members of the respective Bar Associations to refrain from acceding to the boycott of Court proceedings and court work, irrespective of the genuineness of the cause. The Chief Justice had also warned the concerned stakeholders not to indulge in such illegalities. Proceedings against officer bearers of the Bar Association at Srirangapatna are still pending.

Lawyers' Strike Call: Karnataka High Court Drops Contempt Proceedings After Davanagere Bar Association Apologizes

Mustafa Plumber

CJ Abhay Oka had appealed to the Bar Associations to refrain from acceding to the boycott of court proceedings, irrespective of the genuineness of the cause.

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