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Court boycotts continue despite court rulings

Staff Reporter

We are compelled to strike: lawyers

MADURAI : Lawyers and the police cross swords on one issue or the other. But the row between them has reached a new high in Madurai now.

Boycott calls given by bar associations have gained significance with the lawyers claiming that they are compelled to go on strike due to the laxity shown in conceding their demands.

The lawyers practising in the district court in Madurai are on an indefinite boycott demanding disciplinary action against a local police Inspector, who allegedly fabricated a criminal complaint lodged by an advocate and also forged the latter's signature.

Expressing solidarity with the agitating lawyers, the Bar associations in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court also boycotted the Bench on Monday and the day's business came to a grinding halt.

A four-judge Bench of the Apex Court on December 17, 2002, headed by the then Chief Justice of India held that it was "unprofessional" as well as "unbecoming" of a lawyer who had accepted a brief to refuse to attend court in pursuance of a call for boycott.

The Bench further said, "The courts are under an obligation to hear and decide cases brought before them and cannot adjourn matters merely because lawyers are on strike... or otherwise it would tantamount to becoming a privy to the strike."

A lawyer's duty was to boldly ignore a call for strike or boycott of courts and they would be answerable for the consequences suffered by their clients if the non-appearance was solely on the grounds of a strike call, the Bench added.

The apex court also stressed that the lawyers owed a duty to their clients and the former could not disrupt court proceedings and put the interest of their clients in jeopardy.

Despite the ruling, boycotts are continuing even today and reacting to this, the vice-chairman of the All India Bar Association, S. Prabhakaran, said: "It is not that we boycott courts at the very first move. Only after exploring all other avenues, we resort to strike."

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