Avoid addressing me 'Your Lordship' or 'My Lord'; don't use 'obliged', 'grateful': Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi of Punjab & Haryana High Court

Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi of Punjab and Haryana High Court has requested lawyers not to address him as “Your Lordship” or “My Lord” and to refrain from using terms such as “obliged” and “grateful” while arguing cases before him.

The request was made by way of a note issued in his causelist.

“It is for the information of the respected members of the Bar that Hon’ble Mr. Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi has requested that respected members of the Bar may avoid addressing him as ‘Your Lordship’ or ‘My Lord’ and also saying obliged and grateful. All concerned to note please,” the note said.

Several Judges in other High Courts have previously indicated that they have no objection in abandoning the use of colonial-era honorifics when it comes to addressing the Court.

A few weeks ago, Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee of the Madras High Court orally assured that lawyers may address judges as “Sir” instead of "My Lord" or "Your Lordship."

Earlier this year, Justice Krishna Bhat of the Karnataka High Court requested lawyers appearing before his court to avoid using terms such as "Lordship" Or "My Lord" to address the judges on the Bench and suggested that lawyers could use phrases such as "sir", that are consistent with the dignity of the court under Indian circumstances.

Justice Jyoti Mulimani of the Karnataka High Court was the second Judge of the Court to request that all counsel to address her simply as "Madam" through a note last month.

Last year, former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan urged all officers of the District Judiciary, including members of the Registry, to address the Chief Justice only as “Sir” instead of “My Lord” or “Lordship” in conformity with the applicable judicial and administrative precedents.

In 2019, a Full Court of the Rajasthan High Court resolved to do away with the practice of referring to judges as “My Lord” and “Your Lordship”.

Justice S Muralidhar, the current Chief Justice of Orissa High Court also follows the practice of asking lawyers not to address him as 'My Lord' or 'Your Lordship'.

While hearing a PIL moved by an advocate, Shiv Sagar Tiwari in 2014 seeking to do away with the practice of addressing judges as “Your Lordship” and “My Lord”, the Supreme Court had noted that it was never made compulsory to address the Court using these terms.

A Bench of Justices HL Dattu and SA Bobde had dismissed the PIL and observed, “When did we say it is compulsory? You can only call us in a dignified manner…. “How can this negative prayer be accepted by us? Don’t address us as “lordship”. We don’t say anything. We only say address us respectfully.”