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Prayagraj, July 11 (HS). Allahabad High Court has ordered the Bar Council of India, UP Bar Council, Bar Association Allahabad High Court and District Bar Association Prayagraj to file an affidavit and disclose how they will ensure compliance with the Supreme Court's order banning lawyers' strike in courts. The next hearing of the criminal contempt case will be on July 16. This order was given by the division bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Gautam Chaudhary during the hearing of the criminal contempt petition filed against the District Bar Association Prayagraj.
Senior advocate RK Ojha, on behalf of the president and secretary of the District Bar Association, admitted that as per the Supreme Court order, the Bar Association is not allowed to go on strike in principle. There is a need for a detailed discussion by the Bar Council on this issue and a solution. Some time was sought from the Bar Council of India and the UP Bar Council to gather information.
Citing the report of the Registrar General, the court said that due to the lawyers' strike, the judicial work of most of the district courts of the state has been badly affected. The court has ordered to give a copy of the report to the council both the times.
It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court has declared the lawyers' strike illegal in the cases of Harish Uppal and others and said that they do not have the right to go on strike. Earlier on May 31, the court had issued a show cause notice to the President and Secretary of the District Bar Association Prayagraj and sought an explanation as to why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for interfering in the administration of justice and undermining the authority of the court by paralyzing the courts with the proposal of strike. The court had also directed the Registrar General to obtain a report from all the District Judges of the state as to how many working days were worked in the courts between July 1, 2023 and April 30, 2024 and how many days the lawyers were on strike.
Advocate Sudhir Mehrotra presented his case on behalf of the High Court and said that the District Judge Prayagraj had sent a report to the High Court on which this contempt proceeding has been taken. According to the District Judge's report, from 1 July 23 to 30 April 24, judicial work was affected on 127 days out of 218 working days due to lawyers' strike. Work was done on 41.74 percent days and work was affected on 58.26 percent days due to lawyers' strike.