DBA ends boycott of two courts

Ludhiana, September 2

The Ludhiana District Bar Association (DBA) has decided to end the boycott of the court of the Additional Principal Judge (Family) and the court of the Judicial Magistrate/Civil Judge Junior Division, Ludhiana.

The decision follows a joint meeting held on September 2, between representatives of the DBA and senior judicial officers of Ludhiana, where all misunderstandings were addressed in a cordial manner.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ) Harbans Singh Lekhi had taken the initiative to call the meeting. Several other senior officers including, Principal Judge (Family Court) Neelam Arora, ADJ Saru Mehta Kaushik, ADJ Barinder Ramana and ADJ Shiv Mohan Garg attended the joint meeting held with DBA president Chetan Verma, Secretary Parminder Singh Laddi, Joint Secretary Rajinder Singh Bhandari and other office-bearers. Both lawyers on whose complaint the call for boycott was made also shared their grievances in the meeting.

The DBA had earlier announced the boycott of the court of one Additional Principal Judge (Family) posted in the city few months back, after a former DBA secretary, Vikas Gupta, filed a written complaint of alleged rude of the presiding officer.

Another conflict arose with a Judicial Magistrate when lawyer Dalip Saggi’s request for a change of date, as his son was to marry on the date of the hearing, was denied, further intensifying the confrontation. The said Judge had also reportedly denied the request of the DBA president to change the date of the hearing.

However, during the recent meeting between the DBA representatives and the senior judicial officers, the issues were discussed in detail. The discussions resulted in the removal of all misunderstandings, and the DBA members were given assurances that such situations would not be allowed to recur in the future.

Following the assurance and the resolution of the grievances, the DBA decided to end its boycott of the said courts, enabling normal legal proceedings to resume.

The association expressed hope that such steps would foster a better understanding and professional conduct between the legal fraternity and the judiciary in the future.