HC pulls up lawyers for absence

The Kerala High Court today expressed its displeasure over the absence of advocates before a particular bench hearing murder appeals for the second straight day.
The bench, headed by Justice K T Sankaran, was constrained to retire to the chamber as none of the lawyers in the 20-odd listed cases turned up in the morning session.
The lawyers complained that the weekly caus list of the particular court was not available on the official website of the high court so that they could not prepare in advance.
On the opening day of the court after summer vacation yesterday also, no advocate was present before the bench.

Following this, the court's Registrar General issued notice to all concerned, including Bar Council of Kerala, recommending action against lawyers who were absent from the court when the cases were taken up.
The same scenario repeated this morning. However, the advocates were present when the bench took up the cases in the afternoon.
While expressing its displeasure over the attitude of the lawyers, the bench pointed out that the absence of counsel for petitioners during the hearing of criminal appeals would adversely affect the appellants who are in jail.