Bombay High Court Aurangabad bench lawyers boycott court over demand to have all proceedings in same building

Lawyers practicing at the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court are boycotting court proceedings for an indefinite period starting October 4..The advocates are demanding that all judicial proceedings should take place in one building..The new wing of the court building was recently inaugurated by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who urged that the new wing be utilised for proceedings as soon as possible. Bombay High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya issued an administrative order to this effect soon thereafter.In compliance with this order, two division benches and three single-judge benches at the Aurangabad bench began hearing criminal matters in the new wing on September 25.However, senior lawyers got matters before these benches adjourned. Following this, the Bar Council and Bar Association members along with senior lawyers met with administrative judge Justice RV Ghuge raising grievances that shuffling between the two wings for matters was getting difficult. The judge assured them that these issues would be resolved by October 3..On September 27, the Bar Association passed a resolution declaring that if the criminal benches are not brought back into the old building by October 3, the lawyers will boycott proceedings from October 4.This resolution was conveyed to the Registrars of the High Court. However, the association members did not receive any response from the High Court administration till 4:45 pm on October 3. Accordingly, they proceeded to boycott proceedings from October 4..The benches continued to sit on October 4 and today, with government lawyers and court staff present in court. However, since lawyers continued with their “stop work” protest and did not remain present in court, the matters got adjourned..Aurangabad bench Bar Association Advocate Radhakrushna Ingole told Bar & Bench that the advocates will continue with their boycott till someone from the High Court administration reaches out to them for a discussion and a workable solution comes out.He highlighted that the lawyers were aware that such non-participation in work would lead to a temporary halt in the administration of justice.“However, if we cannot deliberate for our rights, how will we successfully represent our clients?” Ingole said.He also pointed out that so far, there had been a unanimous participation by most lawyers in the protest. The Association had issued show cause notices to two lawyers who participated in court proceedings on October 4..The Registrar at the Aurangabad bench reportedly sent a letter to the lawyers’ association on October 3 at around 10 pm requesting them to cooperate with the administration's decisions. He also purportedly warned that if the lawyers continued their protest, then as per the orders of the Supreme Court, the “stop work” protest would amount to contempt.