Irked by lawyers holding strike every Saturday for 35 years in Uttarakhand district courts over reasons like “bomb blast in Pakistan”, “earthquake in Nepal” or “condolence references for family members”, the Supreme Court on Friday warned advocates of contempt action if they persisted with it.
Holding the strike illegal, the top court sought response from Bar Council of India and all the State Bar Councils within six weeks to suggest the further course of action to deal with the problem of strikes/abstaining from work by the lawyers.
Taking suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the issue, the top court emphasised that at a time when the judiciary is facing serious problem of pendency and delay in disposal of cases, how can the institution as a whole can afford such four days strike in a month.
The SC said that every month on 3-4 Saturdays, the advocates are on strike on one pretext or the other and had the lawyers worked on those days, it would have achieved the ultimate goal of speedy justice, which is now a fundamental right.
A Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and MR Shah said that boycotting courts on every Saturday in the districts of Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand is not justifiable at all and as such it tantamount to contempt of the courts.
The Bench dismissed the appeal filed by Dehradun Bar Association challenging the Uttarakhand High Court order of September 25 last year, which asked the lawyers and their associations to withdraw the strike in district courts and warned them of contempt action.
While dismissing the appeal, it said, “The High Court is absolutely justified in issuing the impugned directions. We are in complete agreement with the view expressed by the HC and the ultimate conclusion and the directions issued by the HC.”
It noted the information sent by the High Court to the Law Commission with respect to the State for the years 2012- 2016, which showed that in Dehradun, the advocates were on strike for 455 days (on an average 91 days per year) and in Haridwar district it was 515 days (about 103 days per year). “To go on strike/boycott courts cannot be justified under the guise of the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. Nobody has the right to go on strike/boycott courts. Even, such a right, if any, cannot affect the rights of others and more particularly, the right of Speedy Justice guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21,” it added.