[Boycott of Court] Karnataka High Court drops contempt proceedings against Davanagere Bar Association after unconditional apology

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday accepted the unconditional apology tendered by the officials of the Davanagere Bar Association for boycotting court work earlier this year. .A Division Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice N Sanjay Gowda said, ." (In) The new affidavit filed by accused, though belatedly, they have realized their act of boycotting the functioning of the court is a mistake ... The apology deserves to be accepted.".Earlier, the Bar Association members had filed an affidavit on July 31 looking to justify their conduct, which did not impress the Court. ."On the last date, we had made it very clear to the said accused that we are not forcing them to tender an apology and we are not forcing them to give an undertaking to the Court to abide by the law laid down by the Apex Court. However, after reading the affidavits filed by the aforesaid accused, one gets an impression that on the one hand, the accused want to justify their conduct and on the other hand, they are giving the undertaking to abide by the law laid down by the Apex Court", the Court said. .However, today, the accused persons sought to withdraw the said affidavit, which was allowed by the Court. .The Court noted that, in the affidavit, they had expressed regret and tendered an unconditional apology. It was also noted that they had undertaken to follow law laid down in Ex Capt. Harish Uppal vs Union of India and another. ."The undertaking given by the accused are accepted and taken on record. The apology is accepted and suo motu contempt petition is disposed off", the Court said..In February, the Karnataka High Court had initiated suo motu contempt of court proceedings against seven bar associations in the State for passing resolutions urging lawyers to abstain from court work..Chief Justice Oka had also made an earnest appeal, urging advocates in the State to refrain from boycotting court proceedings or abstaining from court work, in the interest of ensuring the maximum disposal of cases..About two weeks ago, the High Court had dropped the suo-motu criminal contempt proceedings initiated against the office bearers of five other District Bar Associations for abstaining from court work, after they tendered their unconditional apology.