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"Such advocates shall be dealt with seriously which may even include proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act as well as being debarred from practice," Madhya Pradesh high court had ordered in March
The Supreme court on Monday directed the Madhya Pradesh High Court to reconsider the notices issued by it against lawyers in the State for not appearing on a strike day.
Notably, the lawyers had gone on strike against a scheme for disposing of pending cases.
High Court had initiated suo moto contempt proceedings against proceedings against around 2500 lawyers.
One of those lawyers, namely, Varun Thakur, had approached the Top Court stating that he had not appeared because bar council had called for a strike.
"Let the action be taken against bar council and its members. There are more than 2500 contempt petitions pending and it has larger impact on the lawyers", the court was told.
A bench of Justices SK Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia noted that the issue was mostly settled. Court then went on to direct the lawyer to approach the High Court afresh, asking the High Court to revisit the issue.
In March this year, the State Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh had addressed a communication to the High Court Chief Justice stating that unless the scheme relating to disposal of 25 identified cases in every quarter was not withdrawn they would protest the issue seriously.
High Court had then come down heavily on the lawyers and said that it was the duty of the lawyer to fight for the legal rights of his clients and to ensure the rule of law.
The rule of law is one of the basic tenets of the legal profession. Therefore, it is the duty of every lawyer to uphold the rule of law, it had added.
The bench of Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Vishal Mishra was dealing with a suo motu case taken up by the court in the wake of a three-day strike by the lawyers in the State against a scheme for disposing of pending cases.
Taking a stern view, the division bench directed all the advocates throughout the State to attend to their court work and warned that "if any lawyer deliberately avoids to attend the court, it shall be presumed that there is disobedience of the present order and he will be faced with serious consequences including initiation of proceedings for contempt of court under the Contempt of Courts Act".
Case Title: Varun Thakur vs. High Court Of Madhya Pradesh
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