HC appoints panel to look into 'kangaroo courts'

The Madras High Court has appointed a committee headed by its retired judge K Chandru to suggest ways and means to control 'excess' behaviour of advocates in the Egmore Magistrate Court complex here.

A bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T S Sivagnanam passed the interim order on a petition by three persons who were allegedly attacked by a group of lawyers in 2011 seeking a direction to set up a committee to look into the 'katta panchayats' (kangaroo courts) conducted by a group of advocates in the Egmore complex.

The bench also named four other members of the committee -- Chairman of Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry D Selvam, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) J K Tripathy, P. Velmurugan (Registrar Vigilance of the high court) and journalist Gnani Shanker.