'Refrain From Boycotting Court Work Irrespective Of Genuineness Of Cause' : Karnataka CJ Oka Appeals To Bar

The appeal followed reports received from the District Courts informing about the resolutions passed by the Bar Associations in Mandya and Davangere districts calling upon the members of the Bar to abstain from court proceedings for various reasons.

Justice Oka in the appeal has said:

"You are all well aware that due to the Covid-19 pandemic the Courts in the state could not function normally for a few months and it caused hardship and sufferings to the litigants and also to the members of the Bar. The High Court of Karnataka took all possible steps to restore the normal functioning of the Courts in a phased manner and now it is nearing complete normalcy. It is distressing to note that even under these circumstances, the members of some of the Bar Associations have resorted to acts of abstaining from or boycotting the Court for various reasons. Such acts of abstaining from the Courts cause interference in the administration of justice. Such acts also cause inconvenience and prejudice to the litigants. During the pandemic, notwithstanding the challenges, the District and Trial Courts in the State have started functioning. But certain Bar Associations have taken recourse to illegal method of boycotting Courts. Such a step will adversely affect the members of the Bar."

The appeal also quotes from Dr. B.R.Ambedkar's famous "Grammar of Anarchy" speech in the Constituent Assembly 25th November 1949 as follows:

"If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and Satyagraha. When there was no way left for constitutional methods for achieving economic and social objectives, there was a great deal of justification for unconstitutional methods. But where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods.These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us."

The message further said : "It is a settled position of law that the acts of abstaining from Court work or boycotting the Court proceedings and the acts of the office bearers of the Bar Associations calling upon the members of the Bar to abstain from the Court work or to boycott the Court proceedings amounts to interference with administration of justice. Advocates are the officers of the Court and enjoy special status in society. They have obligations and duties to ensure smooth functioning of the Court".

In his appeal, the Chief Justice has also referred to judgement passed by the Supreme Court in the matter of Ex-Captain Harish Uppal vs. Union of India and others, reported in (2003) 2 SCC 45 and in the matter of Krishnakant Tamrakar vs. State of Madhya Pradesh, reported in (2018) 17 SCC 27, to appeal to all the members of all the Bar to refrain from abstaining from court work or from boycotting court work.