Bar associations cannot work like trade unions : Allahabad HC

Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has observed that courts are not an industrial establishment, and the Bar associations cannot bargain their demands like trade unions.

Expressing serious concern over an ongoing strike at the Tehsil Bar Association in Ballia district’s Rasra, the court directed the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh to bring on record the guidelines framed by it, if any, in respect of observance of condolences and other instances under which the lawyers abstain from work in any district or tehsil of Uttar Pradesh and whether any action has been taken by it in the instant case or not.

Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Jang Bahadur Kushwaha, a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Kshitij Shailendra directed to list this case on February 5 for the next hearing.

“Lawyers’ strike waste not only judicial time but also cause immense loss and harm to all the social values and leads to rising pendency of cases, adversely affecting the system of justice delivery, bringing more and more hardships to the litigants for whom the courts are meant. Abstaining from work for the whole day without any substantial cause also falls in the same category,” the court added.

“If courts of law remain closed for long periods, people may take recourse to other means for redressal of their grievances, including those which may have no sanction of law, like approaching the criminals to settle their disputes, or either turning themselves into criminals and adopting all other polluted means for getting the work done. If this situation persists for a considerable period of time, the resultant effect on the society as well as individuals and the nation as a whole would be unassessable,” the court added.

However, the court in its order, said if there is some grievance, it is open to the members of the Bar to ventilate the same before the grievance redressal committee constituted by this court by an order dated June 6, 2023.

The committee comprises the district judge, the additional district judge – 1, chief judicial magistrate, district government counsel (civil and criminal) and president of the Bar Association of the district concerned.

IANS