Court Boycott : Supreme Court Raps Rajasthan HC Bar Association For Not Taking Contempt Notice 'Seriously'

The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed with dismay that office bearers of the of the Bar Association of the Rajasthan High Court at Jaipur have not taken seriously the contempt notice issued to them for boycotting a bench of the High Court as part of a strike. On October 5, 2021, the Court had issued notice and had directed the the President, Secretary and the Office Bearers of the Bar Association of High Court of Rajasthan at Jaipur to show cause why contempt proceedings may not be initiated against them. On a later hearing date, the Supreme Court had observed that no bar association can put pressurize the Chief Justice to change the roster of a judge.The issue relates to the Jaipur Bar Association's boycott of the court of Justice Satish Kumar Sharma. The resolution for the boycott was passed after the judge reportedly refused to give an urgent listing to a petition seeking protection for a lawyer. The association demanded that the roster be changed to remove criminal matters from the bench of Justice Sharma. A Bench comprising Justices MR Shah and Sanjiv Khanna remarked on Tuesday that it is unfortunate that no counter affidavit till date has been filed by the office bearers of the Bar Association who are in contempt. "Despite the fact that the Office-bearers of the Bar Association, who are alleged to be in contempt are served long back and earlier also the matter was adjourned at their instance, it is very unfortunate that no counter has been filed till date", the Court observed. Opining further that the office bearers had not given due credence to the contempt notice, the Bench remarked, "There is no response in writing by the Office Bearers of the Bar Association. It appears prima facie that the Bar Association has not taken the matter very seriously."However, the Bench provided 'one last chance' to the erring office bearers to submit their response and accordingly listed the matter for further hearing tomorrow i.e on November 17. The Bench also took on record a detailed report submitted by the Registrar General of the Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur Bench pursuant to the Court's earlier order. Pursuant to a perusal of the report, the Bench remarked that the contents of the report are 'shocking'. Contents of the report of the Registrar General The report stated that on September 27, 2021 a Criminal Writ Petition was filed in Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur Bench by Shri Ravindra Kumar Paliwal, Advocate through his advocate Amit Jindal Advocate which was related to alleged dispute of Shri Paliwal with his neighbour. Thereafter on behalf of the petitioner, an oral request was made in the Court of Justice Satish Kumar Sharma to list this case on the same day i.e. on September 27, 2021. On such a request, the Judge directed the matter to be taken up as first case on September 28, 2021 but the concerned Advocate continued to forcefully insist for listing of the case on the same day and some other Advocates also joined this demand and started protesting by raising slogans.On September 27, 2021 the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court was on leave. The High Court administration brought this matter to the notice of the Chief Justice whereupon the case was marked to some other High Court Judge and the matter was taken up on the same day and order was also passed. Though the case was taken up on the same day and order was also passed, the Rajasthan High Court Bar Association passed a resolution in the evening of September 27, 2021 to boycott the court of Justice Satish Kumar Sharma till his roster is not changed. To remove the above impasse, a meeting of the Chief Justice and all Judges of Jaipur Bench was held on September 28, 2021 at 10.30 am. After discussing the matter, the office bearers of the High Court Bar Association were invited in the meeting at 11.30 am. The meeting with office bearers of the Bar Association continued till 12.30 pm. During this meeting, the High Court Bar Association made a request to constitute a committee of Judges to discuss the matter. On this request, the office bearers of the Association were asked to withdraw the resolution of boycott and thereafter their request will be considered. Consequently, the office bearers of the Association asked for 15 minutes time. Till 1.00 pm when the office bearers did not turn up, the matter was again discussed by the Chief Justice and other Judges during lunch and a Committee of 6 Judges was constituted to discuss the matter with the High Court Bar Association to resolve the issue. After the conclusion of the meeting, all the Courts functioned in post lunch session from 2.00 pm and hearing of all the matters was conducted as usual. The court of Justice Satish Kumar Sharma also had sitting in post lunch session but the office bearers of Bar Association and other Advocates assembled there and asked fellow Advocates to come out of the Court Room. On receiving the information that Advocates are raising slogans outside the court room of...

Court Boycott : Supreme Court Raps Rajasthan HC Bar Association For Not Taking Contempt Notice 'Seriously'

Aaratrika Bhaumik

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