HC takes suo motu action against lawyers for boycotting courts

Taking suo motu action against lawyers for boycotting courts in support of their agitation, the Bombay High Court today imposed fine and issued show cause notices to them for not appearing in a criminal case, thereby delaying the trial in a subordinate district court.
Show cause notices were issued to lawyers of 13 accused in the murder of wrestler Sanjay Patil, who was publicly shot dead in a market at Karad by two assailants in 2009.
A bench headed by Justice S C Dharmadhikari imposed fine of Rs 3000 each on lawyers who did not appear in this case at Satara court because of their agitation demanding a High Court bench at Kolhapur to cater to the districts of Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Solapur.

The bench asked the Principal Judge of Satara Court to ensure that costs were recovered from lawyers participating in the boycott.
Family members of the deceased had filed a petition seeking transfer of the trial to some other court since the case had been proceeding at a slow pace at the trial court.
The Court also asked the Bar Council of India and Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa to persuade lawyers to call off their boycott.
"If the boycott continues, let the association of advocates which called for the agitation know that courts and the highest judicial administration in the state is not powerless if the cause of justice suffers," Justice Dharmadhikari said.

The bench also called upon the government to transfer trials from courts which are being boycotted to other courts in nearby places. For instance, a case in Solapur could be transferred to an Osmanabad court, the bench said.