HC out to end lawyers’ strikes,bar association promises battle

The legal fraternity is already up in arms against the move,with the Delhi High Court Bar Association gearing up to oppose it “tooth-and-nail”.

According to sources in the court,the decision was made at a meeting of senior judges on February 18. Delhi High Court Bar Association president A S Chandhiok,who was a special invitee at the meeting along with the association secretary and vice-president,opposed the move,saying the HC didn’t have the authority to do so. He is also learnt to have told the judges that the association will submit its stand in writing,which it has not done so far.

Chandhiok told Newsline that he had told the judges that the move to make it illegal for lawyers to resort to strike was out of their jurisdiction.

“We put the issue before our executive committee and there is unanimity that we will oppose the move. How can the judges take away our right to protest?” Chandhiok said. “It is not as if we resort to strike on frivolous or trivial matters. But to go on strike or abstain from court work or boycotting judicial proceedings is a weapon for us. How can the judges expect us to give it up?” Asked if there was any possibility of the association accepting the proposal,Chandhiok,who is an Additional Standing Counsel for the Government of India,said,“There is no question of accepting it.”

In a landmark judgment in 2002,a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had ruled that lawyers should not resort to strikes except in the “rarest of rare cases where the dignity,integrity and independence of the Bar and/or the Bench are at stake”. Last month,the Delhi Judicial Service (DJS) Association,which represents judicial officers in Delhi,had sought the High Court’s intervention to stop lawyers from resorting to strikes against corruption in the judiciary.