DBA boycotts courts of two Judges over ‘misbehaviour’
Ludhiana, August 31
The District Bar Association (DBA) here today boycotted the court of an Additional Principal Judge of a family court and a Judicial Magistrate, Ludhiana, alleging repeated instances of misbehaviour by them and use of unpleasant remarks towards its members.
According to a notice issued by the DBA, numerous complaints had already been lodged by its members against the said Judges, citing disrespectful conduct and remarks. Despite these complaints, the judicial officers allegedly did not alter their approach, leading to heightened discontent among the legal fraternity.
The DBA has taken the step after a written complaint by a former DBA secretary, Vikas Gupta. An emergency meeting of the DBA executive committee was convened under the leadership of president Chetan Verma. During this meeting, the committee, including vice-president Sandeep Arora, secretary Parminder Pal Singh, joint secretary Rajinder Singh Bhandari, finance secretary Karnish Gupta and other executive members unanimously resolved to boycott the judges’ court with immediate effect.
In its complaint, the ex-DBA secretary stated that following the tragic death of a young lawyer, Karamjit Singh Sidhu, the city lawyers were observing no-work day on Thursday. Due to this reason he was unable to attend the court in a case and he sent his clerk and a junior lawyer to mark the presence. They appeared before the court and sought short adjournment as talks of compromise were going on. Then the court asked them to note the date after lunch. But when they went there after lunch, they were already proceeded ex-parte.
After this, he went there at 2.30 pm and requested the court to withdraw the ex-parte order, but the judge did not entertain him. The behavior and tone of talking of the presiding officer was very harsh, rude and insulting, added Gupta in its complaint sent to inspecting judge of high court for Ludhiana.
In the other case with regard to a Judicial Magistrate, senior Bar member Dalip Saggi said the Judge refused to change the date in a case despite a request that the former’s son’s wedding was fixed on that day. Thereafter, the DBA president went to the court of the said Judicial Magistrate, but he reportedly did not accede to his request to change the date, which led to a confrontation.
The DBA has urged all its members to refrain from appearing in these two courts and to support the boycott. President Verma emphasised the gravity of the situation, stating that the boycott would continue until satisfactory measures were taken to address the grievances raised by the DBA members.
