The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Himachal Pradesh High Court Bar Association on the basis of a letter received from the High Court Registrar General, alleging that the members of the bar association had abstained from work on account of an advocate’s death.
The Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia passed the order on Tuesday.
The top court of the country noted that the letter has been placed on record by the Registrar General of the Himachal Pradesh High Court at Shimla to the Supreme Court Secretary General regarding abstention of court work by a bar association.
It said on account of the death of one of the respected lawyers, abstention was done on September 9. Taking in view the letter, the top court of the country issued notice to the Secretary of the Himachal Pradesh High Court Bar Association.
The Apex Court issued notice to the Himachal Pradesh government and the state law enforcement agency to take stringent actions against the striking lawyers.
Earlier, the Apex Court had issued to the Orissa Bar Association, while hearing contempt proceedings initiated against lawyers found to have engaged in violence during a strike in Odisha last year.
Called over the long-standing demand for a permanent bench of the Orissa High Court in the western part of the state at Sambalpur, the agitation took a violent turn as massive clashes erupted between lawyers and the police.
The Bar Council of India had suspended the license of the agitating advocates, while police arrested some of the Advocates.
The Rajasthan High Court Bar Association at Jaipur Bench had also been served notice recently over the non-appearance of lawyers due to a strike.
(Case Title M/s PLR Projects Private Limited vs Mahanadi Coalfields Limited & Ors)