The Supreme Court of India recently concluded a contempt of court case against the former office-bearers of the Bharatpur Bar Association, Rajasthan, who were accused of obstructing the work of lawyers who did not participate in calls for strikes and boycotts of courts. The bench, comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha, issued a stern warning that the Court would resort to coercive action if any lawyer is prevented from working or expelled due to non-participation in strikes.
The Court’s order, passed on July 10, stated,
“The concerned members of the Bar are placed on notice that this Court will be constrained to take recourse to the coercive arm of law, should any incident occur in the future. There shall be no impediment in the work of legal defense counsel.”
The case revolved around allegations that the petitioners, who were defense counsel providing legal aid, were hindered from working by the association’s office-bearers because the petitioners had opposed and weakened the bar’s calls for a strike. The legal aid services authority had introduced a ‘Legal Aid Defence Counsel Scheme’ for Bharatpur district, which required lawyers to work full time exclusively to provide legal aid to persons accused or convicted of crimes.
When the recruitment process for the scheme was initiated, lawyers in Bharatpur protested against the scheme. However, the petitioners, advocates Purnaprakash Sharma, Puneet Garg, and Madhavendra Singh, continued working under the scheme and did not participate in the protest. As a result, they were issued a show-cause notice for opposing and weakening the movement. When they did not comply, they were suspended for not falling in line.
The petitioners approached the Supreme Court seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against the office bearers of the bar association. The apex court sought a response from the respondent-office bearers. The Court closed the contempt proceedings after noting that no calls for strikes or impeding the work of legal aid counsel remained. The Court was also informed that the membership of the petitioners and other similarly placed lawyers in the association had been reinstated.
Advocates KV Upadhyaya and Anuj Bhandari represented the erstwhile and current Bharatpur Bar office-bearers, respectively. Advocate Abhigya Kushwah and Sunita Yadav appeared for the petitioners.