The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Dharwad lawyers' strike termed unfortunate

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 26, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Dharwad lawyers' strike termed unfortunate

Staff Reporter

Chief Justice says he has always been sympathetic to genuine demands

BANGALORE: The Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, Cyriac Joseph, on Tuesday termed as unfortunate and regrettable the action of the Dharwad Advocates Association in going on an unilateral strike and boycotting the courts demanding the setting up of circuit Benches in Dharwad and Gulbarga.

During a brief interaction with presspersons at the opening of the Press Room on the High Court premises, Mr. Cyriac Joseph said had had always been sympathetic to the genuine problems of the advocates but that this issue had not at all been brought to his notice.

Earlier, the High Court issued a press release through the Secretary of the Chief Justice after the president of the Dharwad Advocates Association, B.D. Hiremath, sought an appointment with the Chief Justice.

In his response to Mr. Hiremath's letter of July 24, the Chief Justice's secretary, R.B. Budihal, said the Chief Justice "regrets that your request for an appointment cannot be granted unless and until the strike is withdrawn. You are free to renew the request after the strike is withdrawn."

The letter said that on several issues, the Chief Justice did take up the cause of the advocates with the Government. In the case of circuit Benches, the Chief Justice had requested the Chief Minister to expedite the construction of the buildings and the Chief Minister had promised to take action.

The Chief Justice was given to understand that the delay was on account of the time required for finalising the building plans and for following the procedures for inviting tenders and processing them.

Yet the Dharwad association called for a strike and neither Mr. Hiremath nor any member of the association had brought to the notice of the Chief Justice their problems.

The letter said even before going on strike and boycotting court work, the advocates had not shown the courtesy of discussing the problem with the Chief Justice or the administrative judge.

Pointing out that it was a genuine problem and that Mr. Hiremath was entitled to adopt any acceptable form of protest or agitation, the letter said boycotting the courts is not an acceptable form of protest in view of a Supreme Court judgment in 2003.

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