RK Wadhwa
As Common Cause vs Abhijat & Others came up before Justices Kurian Joseph and Arun Mishra at court No.13 on Friday (September 11) morning, Justice Arun Mishra tried to persuade Prashant Bhushan, counsel for Common Cause, not to go ahead with the contempt petition, as it would not serve any purpose. Justice Mishra said the onus is on the bar, which has to control the striking lawyers. “You have to discipline yourself”, he told Bhushan.
The Lok Sabha, on day 11 of the monsoon session, passed the Delhi High Court Amendment Bill, 2014 after years of wrangling and lobbying around the issue between the bar of the district court and the high courts in Delhi. The legislation increases the pecuniary jurisdiction of the High Court of Delhi from Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2m) to Rs 2 crores (Rs 20m).
Things promised to return to normal in the Delhi high court on Monday after high-stakes drama last week, when the members of DHCBA received message through the newly formed SMS handle DHCBAS declaring that the strike was suspended.
The Delhi high court Bar Association on Wednesday called off its strike protesting the clearance of bill by the Rajya Sabha to increase pecuniary jurisdiction of the high court as parliament adjourned before it could be passed by the Lok Sabha.
The Delhi district court lawyers’ strike for increasing the pecuniary jurisdiction of the lower courts continues today, after “around thousand lawyers marched to the residence of the Union Law Minster today. There our delegation met him outside his residence. We showed him his assurance letter given to us during the last session. He assured us that the bill will be passed but did not give any time frame, even after repeated requests. If they (government) will not do what they have assured us, we will intensify the protest,” RK Wadhwa, chairman of coordination committee of all district courts bar associations, told the PTI.
Click here to read more about the issues and factions involved.
This week in Mint, Legally India dove into the complicated and fascinating politics of the Delhi bar.
Bar associations in Delhi denied news reports that stated that “a mob of 400-500 people claiming to be lawyers attacked Bharatiya Janata Party chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi's office” in her East Delhi constituency.