The Calcutta High Court has remained virtually non-functional for the past almost one month due to a strike called by the High Court Bar Association in demand of appointment of more judges in the vacant positions. While the point that all positions of judges in the highest court in the state should be filled to prevent backlog of huge number of pending cases, boycott of court proceedings for week after week has made the suffering of the innocent justice-seekers only worse as cases are simply adjourned by the judges everyday. PBT has also suffered due to this mindless strike called by the leaders of the Bar Association as an important PIL, ironically filed against “doctors’ strike”, has been delayed indefinitely.
In a historic judgment by a Constitution bench in Common Cause v. Union of India & Anr. (2006 SCC 9, 295), Supreme Court of India categorically held that “Lawyers have no right to go on strike or give a call for boycott, not even on a token strike………And in case any Association calls for a strike or a call for boycott, the concerned State Bar Council and on their failure, Bar Court of India must immediately take disciplinary action against the Advocates who give call for a strike“. In view of this unequivocal direction by the Apex Court and in order to stop this unlawful advocates strike in Kolkata, PBT has lodged a formal complaint with the West Bengal Bar Council seeking immediate disciplinary action against the Bar Association leaders for calling the strike to bring an end to this endless pain and suffering for the countless litigants and justice-seekers in Kolkata.
