“We Seniors are treated with kid gloves by every Bench. This struggle was for younger lawyers with two to four briefs a month” Dushyant Dave

President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Dushyant Dave along with a few members of the Executive Committee of the SCBA including Vice President V Shekhar and Secretary Aishwarya Bhati had an interaction with journalists yesterday..Various issues ranging from the reasons behind the proposed emergent General Body meeting of the SCBA to the measures that the SCBA is planning in the interests of the Bar were discussed. The meeting was held in Milon Banerji conference hall at 12.45 pm..The recent tiff between the Bench and the Bar had made headlines and had culminated in the SCBA planning to hold an emergent General Body meeting to pass resolutions condemning the treatment meted out to the lawyers by the Bench. However, this meeting was deferred after the Chief Justice of India HL Dattu and Dave discussed the issues and chalked out amicable solutions..In the interaction with the scribes yesterday, Dave initially clarified about the emergent General Body meeting which was scheduled to be held but deferred. While admitting that the language used in the proposed resolutions were a tad harsh, he said that the same was done due to the following reasons:.“Matters which were admitted four to ten years ago are listed at 7 pm the previous day. When the lawyers request for an adjournment the next day, it is not granted and the matter is disposed of in an extremely casual manner. Now who is the sufferer? The sufferer is that poor litigant. We are not talking of corporate clients here. This fight is not for them.Hundreds of matters were disposed of in an extremely casual way. For example, criminal matters before Justice Pinaki Ghose, including murder appeals were disposed of in the most casual way in five to seven minutes. These matters were admitted after great application of mind by the previous Benches three to ten years ago. If you are going to deal with these matters in a casual manner only because you want disposal, then the first victim is justice. We all stand for justice and rule of law. This is the first thing that went into my mind when I wrote that letter to the CJI requesting that this must be corrected.”.Dave then said that one of the mains reasons for taking up the issue was the damage which was being caused to lawyers – especially the younger lot..“Another reason was the damage being caused to the institution of lawyers. See we are not talking about successful lawyers here. This struggle is for those lawyers who get two to four briefs a month. They get these briefs from briefing lawyers across the country – from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Calcutta to Ahmedabad. For 60 years we have had this tradition of listing through terminal list, advance list and weekly list. Now, suddenly if a lawyer gets the intimation on the Supreme Court website at 7’o clock in the evening, he will be unable to reach his briefing lawyer. Even if he reaches the briefing lawyer, the briefing lawyer in turn won’t be able to reach the litigant. Now what happens is that the relationship between the briefing lawyer and the Advocate on Record or the young lawyer practising in the Supreme Court will be completely eroded. The briefing lawyer will then say that ‘the last time when I briefed you, you did not even inform me when the matter was coming up.’”.Dave also clarified that the fight was not an ego issue and that the cause had to be taken up because the credibility of the institution was at stake..“This was not a fight for ego or something. But it was a real miscarriage of justice which was happening. Judges want to dispose of these matters in two to five minutes. Now let us say a litigant has come all the way from Kanyakumari. He briefs a lawyer. He begs or borrows money to fight a case here. And even before the lawyer gets up, the judge says, ‘dismissed’. What will the litigant feel sitting in the visitors’ gallery? What faith will he have in the institution and in his own lawyer?This is not the treatment which we Seniors receive. We are all treated with kid gloves by every Bench. Every judge will think fifty times if Nariman or Sorabjee or Ashok Desai or Salve or Mukul Rohatgi or Dushyant Dave or Singhvi were to stand up. The very credibility of the institution was at stake. The respect for lawyers, judges and the institution will suffer just because we are in “this hurry”. I am not saying that matters should not be disposed of. Bar is certainly at fault for not co-operating with the judges by being prepared and arguing to the point. But all those issues need to be discussed with the Bar so that a solution can be worked out.”.Dave clarified that he was not a war monger while also revealing that there was a proposal by some lawyers to go on a strike though it was thankfully averted..“I am not a war monger. Yesterday, many members said that they wanted to go on strike and I had to tell the CJI that if they go on strike, I will resign. I don’t believe in strikes. I believe in exerting as much pressure as I can. Strike is not a solution at all. This is a Constitutional court, this is the final court of the country; this Court is supposed to do justice to a billion plus people. We can’t expect strikes and lawlessness in this Court. Fortunately, it has been avoided because of this one meeting [with the CJI].”.Dave also said that the meeting with the Chief Justice went well and he was very accommodating and courageous..“I must say the CJI was extremely frank and courageous. He said that if it was anybody’s mistake, it was his mistake and neither his Registry nor his colleagues were at fault. He said that his object was to try and reduce pendency of cases so that he would be able to manage the Board well after 6 to 8 months. So it was done with good intention. He said that unfortunately nobody came to him and told him about the problems. He said that the moment he saw the resolutions, he realised there was a serious mistake.”.Regarding the resolution against Justice Pinaki Ghose, Dave said that he has spoken to Justice Ghose and hopefully things will improve..Dave also spoke at length about the need to encourage young lawyers while pointing out that the Senior lawyers at the Bar should play a pro-active role in training young lawyers. He also outlined his immediate plans for the welfare of the Bar including a fund to help and support families of lawyers. The interaction came to an end with Dave and SCBA expressing hope that all stakeholders in the institution including the media will co-operate in taking the Supreme Court to greater heights.