The Calcutta High Court has imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on a lawyer who made repeated applications in the Court seeking bail for his client.
While imposing cost, the bench comprising Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Tirthankar Ghosh remarked “An advocate cannot take the Court for a ride”.
The bench had on April 23 directed that the bail application be listed after the resumption of the Court’s ordinary functioning; however the petitioner’s lawyer approached the court again with the bail application.
The bench while rejecting his application said “It is alarming and shocking state of affairs that the member of the bar taking advantage of the matter being taken on a virtual platform filed the application for bail when being alive of the fact that an earlier application for bail in connection with the same offence and the same police station case number was directed to be listed before this Court after resumption of normalcy in its functioning”.
The advocate however submitted that several applications appeared on the email of the Registrar General because a certificate acknowledging receipt of application had not been issued to him.
However the court termed his submissions as lame excuses and said
“the member of the bar has not only the onerous duty to his client but have more responsible duty towards the Court. He cannot take the Court for a ride nor any attempt in this behalf can be compromised by the Bench. Such brazen attempt on the part of the member of the bar would not only tarnish the image of the judiciary but would also percolate wrong signal to the litigants as well as the society.”