New Delhi, Dec 14.
No more High Court benches will be set up anywhere, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday, to quell the possibility of any further agitations on this issue. Technology has made this irrelevant, a two-judge bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said.
The bench, which also comprised Justice Abhay S. Oka, was extremely critical of the Sambalpur (in Odisha) bar which indulged in violence to press for a demand for a separate bench there and ordered that the bar members face contempt notices and criminal prosecution for their acts which halted all court work in the area.
There have been multiple demands in the state for at least one bench in the state’s tribal heartland. There have also been agitations to shift the High Court from Cuttack, the older capital of the state to the new capital, Bhubaneswar. All these demands keep re-surfacing now and then. Some of these agitations also enjoy local support.
The bench took a dim view of lawyers taking the law into their own hands. Lawyers have been on a strike on the issue for some time and have been boycotting court work. The issue came to head on Dec 12, 2022, when a section of lawyers went on the rampage and disrupted court work. Many of them have been arrested, the court said.
Many non-lawyers were also involved in the incident, the top court said today and ordered the state DGP and the local police to initiate criminal action against them as well.
The bench said that the bar would have to unconditionally apologise and withdraw their demand for a separate bench for the top court to relent on their conduct as it inconveniences the ordinary litigant. You did not think of the litigant who may be inside a jail and is depending on you for bail, Justice Oka observed.
The bench also passed orders asking the Odisha bar not to call for a halt to court work every time any court staff or lawyer dies. This can be done once a month after three pm, the bench said. While we understand the sentiments, lawyers cannot boycott work or disrupt court work, the bench said. The bench has been very stern on the erring lawyers.
Justice Kaul would not hear of their bail pleas being heard as soon as possible. Let them stay inside for some time, the bench said.
“Anyone indulging in violence ought to be permanently debarred,” Justice Kaul said in a signal to both the Bar Council of India and the lower courts not to go soft on the erring lawyers. “Let them not get any bread or butter.” The bench also warned police against molly-cuddling those lawyers who had indulged in violence.
“If Odisha police is incompetent of taking care of the law-and-order situation we will call in the para-military forces,” the bench said. It did not, however, pass any such orders for now.
The top court has earlier been very critical of Odisha lawyers striking work and bringing judicial work in courts to a halt. The Odisha High Court, which was represented in the hearing by senior advocate Arvind P. Datar, said that an earlier commission had mandated separate benches only when there was a 300 km distance away from an existing bench.
Datar also pointed out that there were multiple demands for separate benches and called upon the court to reject them all on the grounds that technology had ensured greater connectivity. Instead, he suggested, district e-court complexes with staff, who would ensure e-filing etc to ease the pressure on the lawyers to physically travel to the High Court in Cuttack to file and appear in cases.
