Tehsil Lawyers On Strike For Almost 2 Yrs: Allahabad HC Directs State Bar Council To Take Disciplinary Action

The Allahabad High Court on Monday directed the Uttar Pradesh Bar Council to take disciplinary action against striking lawyers at Uttar who continuously abstained from work on every date between February 5, 2020 to January 5, 2022.

The Bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal issued this extraordinary order after observing that the Apex Court has held the strikes by lawyers to be illegal and had directed that the judicial work cannot be stopped and hampered at the instance of the lawyers.

Essentially, one Om Prakash had approached the High Court with his contempt plea submitting that the Tehsildar posted in Budhanpur (District Azamgarh) Shakti Singh had failed to comply with a Court's writ order dated January 10, 2020.

However, when the Court persued the order-sheet filed along with the contempt application, it revealed that the lawyers continuously abstained from work on every date from February 5, 2020, to January 5, 2022.

The Court also noted that not even on a single occasion, the lawyers in Tehsil- Budhanpur, District- Azamgarh had permitted the court to proceed and perform judicial work. In fact, around 70-75 Lawyers continued to abstain from work for 2 years in protest against the Tehsildar.

Against this backdrop, the Court opined that no proceedings for contempt can be initiated against the opposite party as he is not at fault due to the fact that lawyers at Tehsil- Budhanpur are not permitting the court to function properly.

The Court also noted that where mandamus is issued for concluding the proceedings under the U.P. Revenue Code expeditiously by writ Court, the orders could not be complied with, due to the fact that the lawyers practicing mostly in tehsils are not permitting the court to function regularly and smoothly.

Therefore, the Court directed the U.P. Bar Council to take disciplinary action against striking lawyers at Tehsil- Budhanpur, Azamgarh so that the judicial work is not hampered and the directions issued by this Court are complied with within time.

Also, the opposite party was directed to make every endeavor to comply with the order of writ Court dated 10.01.2020 within the next four months, and in case the lawyers are on strike, the Court directed, the applicant shall be heard in person and if any hindrance is caused by striking lawyers then the help of police force be taken by the officer.

Advocate Radhey Raman Mishra appeared for the petitioner.

Case title - Om Prakash v. Shakti Singh, Tehsildar
Case citation: 2022 LiveLaw (AB) 50

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