Madras lawyers agitate (yet again) as ASG calls for dissolution of State Bar Council

This month has been a rather eventful one at the Madras High Court, and for all the wrong reasons. Over the last couple of weeks, those at the High Court campus have been witness to judges fearing for their security, brazen protests of various forms and consequent suspensions..To add to the mix, lawyers of the Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) today abstained from attending court in protest against the Bar Council of India’s recent order to suspend 14 advocates from Madurai..Speaking to Bar & Bench, MHAA President Paul Kanagaraj said that the BCI had no jurisdiction to pull up the errant advocates suo motu. He said,.“First of all, I would like to make it very clear that the agitation is not against the judges; it is against the Bar Council of India, who recently suspended 14 advocates from Madurai. Two of them are facing contempt charges in the High Court. The rest 12 do not know under what circumstances the Bar Council has initiated action against them. They have done it suo motu, without show cause notice, or placing before a committee..It has happened before, and if they continue to do it, is a threat to the freedom of the advocates. Tomorrow, if they receive some false complaint, they can suspend an advocate without giving him a hearing. We want them to recall the order and refer the matter to the State Bar Council, who will then issue notice to the advocates and conduct an inquiry.”.On a related note, Additional Solicitor General G Rajagopalan approached the court today, calling for the dissolution of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for failing to take action against its members who participated in a protest meeting on Sunday..In an urgent mentioning this morning, the ASG identified five members of the TN Bar Council who attended the event organized by the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Advocates Federation in Trichy. Perhaps having grown jaded of the frequency of abstentions in the state, Rajagopalan appealed to a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice TS Sivagnanam to direct the BCI to dissolve the state Bar Council..While the bench did not pass any orders, it reportedly promised to look into the matter. Rajagopalan also asked the court to deem the MHAA’s resolution to boycott proceedings illegal. However, according to Kanagaraj, he was unsuccessful in doing so..“He has also informed the court that our association has declared an illegal boycott, because a 21-day notice was not given. The judges did not entertain it, as they know the position. We have a right to boycott and need not issue a 21-day notice for all issues. For emergencies, we can do away with the notice.”.While reports suggest that normal service was witnessed at the High Court today, Kanagaraj insisted that 90% of the advocates abstained from court. He also mentioned that no one was prevented from attending court.