Summary
On an application by the Bar Council of India in proceedings concerning lawyers' strikes, the Supreme Court reiterated that no member of the Bar may go on strike or abstain from court work, and, to give advocates a forum for genuine grievances, requested every High Court to constitute a Grievance Redressal Committee headed by the Chief Justice, with two senior Judges, the Advocate General, the Chairman of the State Bar Council and the President of the High Court Bar Association, and to consider similar committees at the district level.
Issues
- Whether, while strikes and abstention from court work by advocates remain impermissible, a grievance redressal mechanism should be constituted so that genuine grievances of members of the Bar can be ventilated and strikes avoided.
Held
- No member of the Bar can go on strike or abstain from court work; this Court has repeatedly criticised such conduct. Genuine grievances about procedural changes in filing or listing, or about misbehaviour by a member of the lower judiciary, should instead be raised by representation before a forum. (¶ 3)
- All High Courts are requested to constitute a Grievance Redressal Committee headed by the Chief Justice and comprising two other senior Judges (one from service and one from the Bar, nominated by the Chief Justice), the Advocate General, the Chairman of the State Bar Council and the President of the High Court Bar Association, and may constitute similar committees at the District Court level. Such committees may consider genuine grievances about procedural changes or misbehaviour by judicial officers, provided the grievance is genuine and not a means of pressurising any judicial officer. (¶¶ 3, 4)
Result
Application disposed of with the request to all High Courts to constitute Grievance Redressal Committees as indicated; I.A. No. 51257/2023 disposed of; Registry to send copies of the order to the Registrars General of all High Courts.