Bar Council restrains advocates from entering CJ's court

The Karnataka State Bar Council on Tuesday restrained advocates from entering Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee's bench to send him a message not to take up any important matters when he is due for retirement on October 9.

Members of the bar council restrained advocates from entering Court Hall No 1, where Chief Justice Mukherjee sits. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mukherjee and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar sat at 10.30 am and again at 2.30 pm post lunch without hearing any matter as there were no advocates to make any submissions. The members of the bar allowed only clients and journalists to enter the court hall whereas advocates were barred from entering the court hall. The case numbers were called out and the bench adjourned the matter and directed relisting them again on Wednesday. The bench rose quickly as they could not conduct any proceedings.

Y R Sadashiva Reddy, co-chairman, Bar Council of India who stood at the forefront restraining advocates from entering courts, told DH that Karnataka High Court's administration had completely failed under the leadership of Chief Justice Mukherjee. “We should have taken this step long back, we have delayed our approach. There are corruption charges against Chief Justice Mukherjee and we had written to the Chief Justice of India about the way he conducts the high court proceedings. Despite our letter, there has been no response from the Supreme Court. We are saddened by the lack of response.”

Reddy said there were very important matters pertaining to mines, KPSC, G category sites that were listed before Chief Justice Mukherjee on Tuesday and the bar council did not want him to hear these matters at the fag end of his career. "The number of corrupt people in the judiciary is increasing due to which the state and the litigants are suffering. In order to prevent the judiciary from succumbing to such pressure, the advocates were restrained from entering the court hall," he added.