Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Amend Contempt of Courts Act, says forum

— Photo: K. Ganesan

GOOD COUNSEL: Kolkata Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya addressing a meet in Madurai on Friday.

MADURAI: All India Lawyers Union (AILU) has urged law makers to amend the Contempt of Courts Act to prevent a judge from presiding over contempt cases, if he or she was in any way involved in those cases.

In a resolution passed at its eighth State conference here on Friday, the union said that the amendment should also ensure that the Act was used only against disobedience of court orders and truth could be accepted as a defence.

Expressing dismay over an increasing number of news items on corruption in the judiciary, the union said that the media and others were being subjected to contempt proceedings even for expressing their fair opinions on judgements.

“There is a spurt in anti-people judgements. The poor are denied even their basic rights. Strike is being declared illegal. Lawyers were also prevented from arguing cases on charges of contempt,” the resolution said.

The union also impressed upon the Centre, advocates and social organisations to hold discussions at the national level to arrive at a consensus on establishing the National Judicial Council at the earliest.

The council could help in putting an end to lack of transparency in the appointment of High Court and Supreme Court Judges, besides weeding out corruption in the judiciary, the resolution said.

It was a matter of serious concern that no criteria existed in the statutes for being appointed as a Judge, a Constitutional post with extraordinary powers, except stipulating that the candidate should have put up 10 years of experience in the Bar.

Opposition to entry of foreign lawyers in the country, support to introduction of Tamil as one of the official languages in the Madras High Court, and establishment of a Supreme Court Bench in Chennai were the other resolutions.

The union wanted the Government to strike down Section 34(1) of the Advocates Act which empowers High Courts to impose regulations on advocates and notify Section 30 paving way for lawyers to appear before all courts across the country.

In his inaugural address at the two-day conference, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, Kolkata Mayor and national vice-president of AILU, said that it was the obligation of lawyers to lead the fight for social justice.

N.G.R. Prasad, State president of the union, stressed on the need for discipline among lawyers in view of the violent incidents at the Chennai Law College on Wednesday.

“Unless we are disciplined, we cannot discipline the police,” he said.

AILU patron R. Vaigai participated. State Executive president R. Ramamurthy; Senior Counsel Gopalakrishna Lakshmana Raju; and office-bearers of the union from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka spoke.

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