Supreme Court of India
DISTRICT BAR ASSOCIATION DEHRADUN versus ISHWAR SHANDILYA & ORS on 20 April 2023
508
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2023] 3 S.C.R.
ADISTRICT BAR ASSOCIATION DEHRADUN
v.
ISHWAR SHANDILYA & ORS.
(M.A. No. 859 of 2020)
B
In
(SLP(C) No. 5440 of 2020)
APRIL 20, 2023
C[M. R. SHAH AND AHSANUDDIN AMANULLAH, JJ.]
Advocates/Bar Associations – Grievance Redressal Committees(GRC) – Constitution of – Held: No member of the Bar can go onstrike and/or abstain himself from court working – If the member ofthe Bar has any genuine grievance or the difficulty being facedDbecause of the procedural changes in filing/listing of the mattersand/or any genuine grievance pertaining to misbehave of anymember of the lower judiciary they can very well make arepresentation and it is appropriate that their genuine grievancesare considered by some forum so that such strikes can be avoidedand members of the Bar who might have genuine grievances likeEabove may ventilate their grievances – Therefore, all the High Courtsto constitute Grievance Redressal Committee in their respective HighCourts which may be headed by the Chief Justice and such agrievance redressal committee be consisting of two other seniorJudges, one each from service and one from the Bar to be nominatedFby the Chief Justice as well as the Advocate General, Chairman ofthe Bar Council of the State and President of the High Court BarAssociation – High Court may also consider to constitute the similarGrievance Redressal Committee at the District Court level –Application disposed of.
GCIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: M.A. No. 859 of 2020 inSLP (C) No. 5440 of 2020.
From the Judgment and Order dated 28.02.2020 in SLP (C) No.5440 of 2020 of the Supreme Court of India.
Ajai Kumar Bhatia, Adv. for the Petitioner.H
Manan Kumar Mishra, Sr. Adv., Ms. Radhika Gautam, Ms. AnjulDwivedi, Byrapaneni Suyodhan, Ms. Tatini Basu, Kumar Shashank,Sanjay Rastogi, Advs. for the Respondents.
The Order of the Court was passed by
M. R. SHAH, J.
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1. Present application has been preferred by the Bar Council ofIndia for appropriate direction for constitution of Grievance RedressalCommittees (GRC) for redressal of grievances of Advocates/BarAssociations at different levels as submitted in affidavit dated 15.09.2021including directions to all the High Courts to constitute the suggested“Grievance Redressal Committees” for the States as well as Districtsand Taluka courts within their respective territorial jurisdiction.
2. Shri Manan Kumar Mishra, learned Senior Advocate andChairman of the Bar Council of India submitted that in order to checkand control the frequent strikes, boycotts, Bar Council of India has alreadyfiled affidavit in M.A. No. 859/2020 arising out of SLP (C) No. 5440/2020 on 15.09.2021. The Council has suggested various measures forcontrolling the strike/abstention and has suggested the mechanism ofredressal of the grievances of Advocates/Bar Associations at all levels.He has submitted that the Bar Council is of the firm view and opinionthat the illegal and unreasonable strikes and boycott are always bad andthe Bar Councils can never approve or encourage such practices. It issubmitted that however, in a meeting of Chairmen/Office Bearers of allthe State Bar Councils held, the Bar Council of India and all therepresentatives of the lawyers were of the unanimous opinion that thereshould be a grievance redressal mechanism available to Advocates at alllevels from the Talukas/Muffasils/District Courts, High Courts wherethe members of the Bar could vent their grievances. It is submitted thatmany a times, members of the Bar might have very genuine grievancesand due to non-resolving of such genuine grievance, the members of theBar go on strike. It is submitted that therefore, if the genuine grievanceof the members of the Bar like any dissatisfaction because of theprocedural changes in filing or listing of the matters in High Courts orDistrict Courts in the respective States or any grievance pertaining tomisbehave of any member of the lower judiciary or any other seriousgrievance against judicial officers can be ventilated before the GrievanceRedressal Committees so that the members of the Bar who are also A
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Apart of the justice delivery system may feel that their genuine grievancesare heard and ventilated by some forum.
3. Having heard Shri Manan Kumar Mishra, learned SeniorAdvocate and Chairman of the Bar Council of India, we once againreiterate that no member of the Bar can go on strike and/or abstainBhimself from court working. Time and again, this Court has emphasisedand criticized the advocates going on strike and abstaining them fromwork. If the member of the Bar has any genuine grievance or the difficultybeing faced because of the procedural changes in filing/listing of thematters and/or any genuine grievance pertaining to misbehave of anymember of the lower judiciary they can very well make a representationCand it is appropriate that their genuine grievances are considered bysome forum so that such strikes can be avoided and members of the Barwho might have genuine grievances like above may ventilate theirgrievances. Therefore, we request all the High Courts to constituteGrievance Redressal Committee in their respective High Courts whichDmay be headed by the Chief Justice and such a grievance redressalcommittee be consisting of two other senior Judges, one each from serviceand one from the Bar to be nominated by the Chief Justice as well as theAdvocate General, Chairman of the Bar Council of the State andPresident of the High Court Bar Association. The High Court may alsoconsider to constitute the similar Grievance Redressal Committee at theEDistrict Court level. It is observed that the Grievance RedressalCommittee may consider the genuine grievance related to the differenceof opinion or dissatisfaction because of procedural changes in filing/listing of the matters of the respective High Courts or any District Courtsin their respective States and any genuine grievance pertaining to
Fmisbehave of any member of the lower judiciary, provided such grievancemust be genuine and not to keep the pressure on any judicial officer. Thepresent application stands disposed of in terms of the above. I.A. No.51257/2023 shall also stand disposed of.
4. Registry is directed to send the copies of this order to RegistrarGGeneral of all the High Courts for further steps in terms of the presentorder.
Ankit Gyan
Application disposed of.
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