Lawyers can’t hold litigants to ransom with strikes: Supreme Court to P&H HC bar

The Supreme Court on Friday expressed its exasperation with the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association over its boycotts from court work, lamenting that lawyers cannot hold litigants to ransom in this manner [M/S M3M India Private Limited and anr v. Union of India and Others]..A Bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Augustine George Masih added that there were other means of registering protest instead of declaring strikes or bringing court work to a halt. "You are holding the litigants at ransom. What is the fault of 10,000 litigants? You cannot hold litigants to ransom. It is 75 years of the Constitution. Some day you will be responsible for this. Every day, the cause list shows 4,000 to 5,000 matters. As per Dr Ambedkar, there are other means of protest. Bar associations elsewhere have taken up great causes. In Mumbai when a strike was there in a court, we transferred all cases and the strike ended. In Odisha (when a similar situation arose), suspension was directed. This is very unfortunate," Justice Oka remarked..What is the fault of 10,000 litigants? You cannot hold litigants to ransom.Supreme Court.The case before the Court is tied to an order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case involving the interpretation of the phrases, 'material in possession' and 'reason to believe' under Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.On July 26, the High Court passed an adverse order against a litigant in the absence of the litigant's lawyer. The Bench noted that the lawyer had not come to Court after the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association (HCBA) called for a lawyers' strike. The July 26 order was then challenged before the Supreme Court, which took a serious view of the disruption of court work due to lawyers' strikes. In August, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Punjab and Haryana HCBA and asked it to show cause as to why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against its office-bearers..During today's hearing, Justice Oka reminded that lawyers too have a fundamental duty to adhere to the Constitution of India.The Bench was also left unimpressed by the association's reluctance to file an undertaking to refrain from holding strikes in future."We will take your conduct on record now then. Such evasive answers. We will not hesitate to direct the Bar Council to suspend such members. Come at the end of the board and let us know - will you give the undertaking or not? Please have some senior lawyers educate the bar members a bit," Justice Oka said.The Bar Association's counsel then said the undertaking would be given on behalf of its acting president, GS Brar and acting joint secretary, Praveen Dahiya.The Bench asked them to ensure that this is done by December 8, and listed the matter next on December 13..[Read Live Coverage]