Rajasthan High Court on Monday issued contempt of court notices to President and Secretary of High Court Bar Association for allegedly disrupting proceedings of the court during a hearing and directed Bar Council of Rajasthan to take disciplinary action against them.
A single judge bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi initiated suo motu proceedings against Manoj Sharma, President and Bhuvnesh Sharma, General Secretary Rajasthan High Court Bar Association and directed to issue criminal contempt of court notices to them. The court observed, "In the midst of the judicial proceedings at about 11:30 am on Monday, Manoj Sharma, the President and Bhuvnesh Sharma, the General Secretary of the Rajasthan Bar Association, Jaipur along with many other advocates rushed into the court room and asked the court not to pass adverse orders in the matters in absence of the advocates.
"They also started threatening and pressurising the court under the guise of request, for not proceeding further in the matters. When the court told them not to interfere in the judicial proceedings, they started shouting anti-court slogans. "When the court told them not to pressurise the court and the litigants or to cause any interference in the process of administration of justice, or else the court would be compelled to pass orders against them, they said "aap baahar se aaye ho yaha ka mahaul nahi jaanti" (you have came from other state and you do not know the working atmosphere here) and then started shouting slogans in the court room 'Bela Trivedi haay haay'.
The court under the circumstances had no alternative but to stop the judicial work and to retire in the chamber, declaring that appropriate orders shall be passed in the matter," reads the order. Justice Trivedi said in her order, "It is indeed a very unfortunate and disturbing state of affairs prevailing in the courts that the judicial work has been hampered because of the strike call for indefinite period given by the Bar Associations at Jodhpur and Jaipur.
"Apart from the fact that there is no justifiable reason for giving such a call, the court is constrained to pass this order as strikes and boycotts have become almost a regular feature in the courts and that too on baseless and frivolous grounds, which not only hampers the judicial process and paralyses the court's work, but also causes lot of hardships and irreparable losses to the litigants, for whom the Institution stands.
"The courts have not taken any stern action in this regard so far, probably because of the apprehension that the harmonious relations between Bar and the Bench would be spoilt, which again might cause greater hardship to the litigants. "One cannot be oblivious to the fact that the advocates are not only the officers of the court but also one of the important components of the justice delivery system. However, it appears that now the time has come to remind the Advocates about their duties towards the clients and the courts," she said in the order. The court directed notices of criminal contempt be issued to the duo and also sent a copy of the order for disciplinary action against the lawyers to the Bar Council of Rajasthan.
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