Jahanvi Agarwal
Recently, the Supreme Court of India passed an order when an application was filed by the Bar Council of India wherein Justices MR Shah and Ahsanuddin Amanullah stated that committees are made to check frequent strikes and boycotts by members of the bar as well as to reduce their genuine grievances.
The order stated:
“We once again reiterate that no member of the Bar can go on strike and/or abstain from court work. Time and again, this Court has emphasized and criticized the advocates going on strike and abstaining from work. If the member of the Bar has any genuine grievance or difficulty … they can very well make a representation and it is appropriate that their genuine grievances are considered by some forum so that such strikes can be avoided and members of the Bar who might have genuine grievances like above may ventilate their grievances,”
After the said order, Kerala High Court constituted a Grievance Redressal Committee which will deal with the grievances of the lawyer.
The said committee was headed by the Chief Justice of Kerela i.e., SV Bhatti. The committee included the following:
- Chief Justice SV Bhatti;
- Justice A Muhamed Mustaque;
- Justice Somarajan P;
- Advocate General of Kerela;
- Chairman of the Bar Council of Kerela;
- President of the High Court Bar Association;
Registrar General by a notice stated his opinion that the said committee is only constituted to solve genuine grievances concerning misbehavior. The notices stated that:
“The Grievance Redressal Committee may consider the genuine grievance related to the difference of opinion or dissatisfaction because of procedural changes in filing/listing of the matters and any genuine grievance pertaining to misbehavior of any member of the lower judiciary, provided such grievance must be genuine and not to keep pressure on any judicial officer”
Case Name: District Bar Association, Dehradun V. Ishwar Shandiya & Ors.
Dairy Number: 5440/2020
Bench: Justices MR Shah and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah