Madras High Court junks PIL to limit number of lawyers accompanying VIPs in court

The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition that sought the introduction of rules to limit the number of advocates who appear for or accompany high-profile litigants in sensitive cases [N Mahendra Babu v. The Registrar General and Others].

The petitioner was aggrieved by the inconvenience caused to other lawyers and litigants when a large number of lawyers accompany such 'VIPs' to courts.

A Bench of Chief Justice KR Sriram and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, however, dismissed the plea after observing there was no law fixing the number of persons who can accompany a litigant to Court.

"The admitted position is that there is no enactment at present which fixes the number of persons who can appear on behalf of or accompany a party to Court. In the absence of a public duty on the first respondent to impose restrictions with regard to the number of advocates appearing for or accompanying VIPs/VVIPs, the petitioner is not entitled to a mandamus as prayed for," the Court said, in its November 5 order.

The PIL was filed by one N Mahendra Babu who had pointed out that due to a large entourage of lawyers accompanying parties, especially VIPs and VVIPs, to the courtrooms in sensitive cases, other litigants and advocates are facing inconvenience.

In July 2023, Babu made a representation to the Registrar General of the Madras High Court seeking the framing of rules to limit the number of advocates appearing for parties.

He moved the Court for relief later since his representation did not yield any positive response.

Advocate R Ganesan appeared for N Mahendra Babu.

Advocate B Vijay represented the Registrar General of the Madras High Court.

State Government Pleader A Edwin Prabakar and Government Advocate Habeeb Rahman represented the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Director General of Police.

Advocate CK Chandrasekar appeared for the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

[Read Order]