The Hindu : Front Page : Boycott by lawyers hits litigants in High Court Bench

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 18, 2005

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Boycott by lawyers hits litigants in High Court Bench

Mohamed Imranullah S.

They conduct cases on their own without a counsel

MADURAI: The litigant public in the southern districts have been largely affected by the ongoing `suspension of work' by lawyers in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.

Litigants from Kanyakumari, Ramanathapuram, Tuticorin, Nagercoil and other districts under the jurisdiction of the Bench are forced to visit the court and conduct the cases on their own without a counsel.

The advocates have been abstaining from attending the court proceedings since September 30, demanding expeditious appointment of judges to nearly 27 vacancies in the Madras High Court.

According to them, the delay in filling the posts had led to a huge backlog of cases. They also claim that but for admission of writ petitions, final hearing matters could not be taken up and even an anticipatory bail petition comes up for hearing only after a week from the date of filing.

Similar arguments were advanced by many lawyers in the joint general body meeting of various bar associations held on Monday. While a few argued that the boycott in Madurai Bench alone would not reap success when all other courts, including the principal seat in Chennai, were functioning smoothly, others lamented that young lawyers were out of job for a long time and were in desperate need of money to celebrate Deepavali.

Hence, they requested the general body to adopt other forms of agitation and to resume work immediately. But, a few other lawyers stressed the need to make sacrifices for a general cause and insisted on continuing the boycott.

At last, a joint action committee comprising office-bearers of three bar associations was formed and empowered to take a decision in the matter. Later, in the evening, in a release, the committee announced it would temporarily suspend the boycott and resume work from Wednesday. The decision would be placed before the joint general body on Tuesday for approval.

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