Delhi HC Bar extends strike till May 13; Entry points to High Court closed down

The impasse between lawyers of the Delhi High Court Bar Association and the government continues with the DHCBA strike entering its second day. And it looks like this impasse is unlikely to end anytime soon..A decision to extend the strike till May 13 was taken at the DHCBA’s Executive Meeting today. Scenes witnessed at the High Court today were far more grave than the situation on Friday, as all entry points (barring the main gate) to the High Court were closed down..Even as litigants were allowed entry into the premises, the corridor was sparsely crowded as opposed to Friday when litigants were mentioning matters for adjournments. Today, proxy counsels took adjournment dates and no effective hearing took place. Mentioning of matters was however, permitted by the Benches. .Speaking to Bar & Bench, President of the Delhi High Court Bar Association Rajeev Khosla said,.“As the President of DHCBA, I was not favoring the abstention of work earlier and I do not support it now either. While I do believe strikes are an effective mode of demonstrating opposition, the exercise should serve some public interest. But if the majority of lawyers feel that it is the correct way to get them heard, then we have to go with the majority opinion.”.When asked about the difficulties that a litigant has to suffer due to the continuing strike, Khosla said,.“Agreeably, it is the litigants who are suffering the most. If a court cannot decide on a dispute and the idea is to transfer the dispute to another court for decision, then I do not understand the harm in that. There will be more of a public harm by not hearing litigants as opposed to transferring of matters and giving them an appropriate grievance forum.”.Khosla also said that the Delhi High Court Bill, the chief cause of the strike, was being opposed due to political interests..“These are political issues. By using this strike (initiated by lawyers who themselves are close to political masters) and demonstrating stagnation of court work, such people will only find a legitimate reason to not forward the Bill.”.Bringing in a political angle to the controversy, Khosla further added that while he was not against the welfare of the DHCBA members, the strike itself was not fulfilling any purpose apart from squandering precious judicial time and making the litigants suffer..“As I see it, a small group of lawyers who are opposing the Bill are receiving support by interests in the political quarters. So the question of the Bill not being passed is redundant because these political masters just wanted to show it on paper that they are doing something to tackle the pendency, when in reality they are not.”