Suspension not enough, major steps required against striking lawyers: Supreme Court

New Delhi, December 6

Noting that suspension was not sufficient, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said major steps were needed against striking lawyers.

List preventive steps

The Bar Council of India is the apex body and should act like one. What are the preventive steps being taken? SC Bench

“The Bar Council of India (BCI) is the apex body and should act like one. What are the preventive measures being taken?…This can never acquire the proportions of adversarial litigation,” a Bench led by Dinesh Maheshwari said while hearing a contempt petition filed by an NGO, Common Cause, against the lawyers abstaining from court work.

The NGO had alleged that the BCI had failed to enforce its own resolutions and was not taking any disciplinary action against those resorting to strike. On behalf of the petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan told the Bench that the BCI had not suspended those who went on strike. “We expect a serious response from you,” the Bench told advocate Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad, who represented the Bar Council of India. It posted the matter for further hearing on January 24, 2023.

Expressing displeasure over the agitation by members of Bar associations in some districts of Odisha, the Supreme Court had, on November 28, asked the Bar Council of India to take appropriate action, including suspension of licences, against the striking lawyers.

“We expect the BCI to take appropriate action against members of the different Bar associations and logically, we expect their licences to be suspended at least till the work is resumed,” a Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had said.