"United We Have A Voice": DHCBA President, Sr. Adv. N. Hariharan's Appeal To Delhi's IP Bar Amid Strike

As the Delhi High Court Bar Association's (DHCBA) strike over the proposed enhancement of pecuniary jurisdiction continued, DHCBA President, Senior Advocate N. Hariharan, addressed lawyers of the Intellectual Property (IP) Bar directly, striking a conciliatory note even as the agitation entered its third day, and framing the protest as a call to be heard rather than an act of confrontation.

Speaking to the IP Bar, which has been among the groups most anxious about the proposed hike, Sr. Adv. Hariharan began by acknowledging the support the DHCBA had received from the criminal bar through the strike. "The criminal bar has stood by you like a rock," he said, adding that he personally belonged to both sides of the profession.

Turning to the young lawyers present, he said, "These young faces are the faces which are going to get affected," pointing out that it was this generation that had laboured to build the reputation the IP Bar now enjoyed, "a registry which you created over a period of time," including "some great judgments which came from this court," all products of sustained, dedicated effort. "We are trying our level best to see what we can salvage," he said.

Sr. Adv. Hariharan was categorical that the DHCBA was not seeking a fight with the IP Bar. "Nothing comes by confrontation alone, it comes by negotiation," he said, describing the strike not as confrontation but as "a kind of attention-drawing situation."

Calling the Intellectual Property Division "a jewel in our crown," he said, "I am not against you." He conceded that rising workloads made some redistribution inevitable. "We also understand inflation, pressures are there. There is a lot of work which is accumulating in this division. So, some of it may have to go, that is a reality which we also realise."

His appeal, he said, was simply for reasonableness. "All I am asking is reasonableness. All I am asking is that you hear our voice, look into the reasons which we are giving, and then if you aren't convinced, that's a different issue. But then, at least we have a right to be heard. That is the agitation. This agitation is all about being heard, being seen and being heard."

Thanking the IP Bar for turning up in solidarity, he urged lawyers to see the cause as their own. "That is what I keep telling people, that it's your cause, stand up for your cause. United, we have a voice. It's our cause, united. United, we have a voice. Disparate, we will not be heard," he said.

On how the DHCBA would eventually proceed, Sr. Adv. Hariharan indicated that any final call would be guided by the collective good of the Bar rather than any single section's demand. "We will take a decision with the interest of the Bar. The larger interest of the Bar will govern our decisions," he said, while assuring the IP Bar that this would not translate into the Association shutting out its concerns. "That doesn't mean that any decision is such which will, you know, it can't be a decision where we will stop lending our ears. It will not be like that. We will lend ears to our cause, we will definitely, we will keep working towards it, and let's see," he said.

The remarks come at a sensitive juncture in the pecuniary jurisdiction dispute, with the IP Bar, along with bodies such as the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (Indian Group) and the Intellectual Property Attorneys Association, having already backed the DHCBA's strike, even as concerns persist within the IP fraternity over what a jurisdictional shift could mean for specialised adjudication before the High Court.

Sr. Adv. Hariharan's address, addressed directly to the IP Bar's younger lawyers, appeared aimed at reassuring the group that the DHCBA leadership viewed the standoff as a shared cause rather than one where interests were at odds, while leaving room for further negotiation before any final decision is taken.