SC irked over spate of incidents of lawyers' shouting in court
New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) Some recent incidents of seniorlawyers trying to outshout each other and allegedly attemptingto browbeat judges during high-profile hearings today irkedthe Supreme Court, which said shouting will "not be toleratedat any cost".
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief JusticeDipak Misra, which was hearing a legal question whether aParsi woman loses her religious identity after marrying a manof different religion, was upset over the growing incidents ofsenior lawyers arguing on a high pitch in cases like the BabriMasjid title suit and the Delhi-Centre disputes.
"What happened yesterday (in Delhi-Centre case) wasatrocious and what happened a day before (in Ayodhya case) wasmore atrocious," the bench, which also comprised Justices A KSikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan,said.
Day before yesterday, several senior lawyers includingKapil Sibal, Rajeev Dhavan and Dushyant Dave had made high-pitched arguments in the Ayodhya case seeking adjournment ofthe hearing till July 2019 and some of them had eventhreatened to walk out.
In the Delhi-Centre dispute hearing, Dhavan had yesterdaymade some submissions which was not appreciated by the bench.
"Come what may, shouting in the courtroom will not betolerated at any cost," the CJI observed today.
"Lawyers are traditionally called ministers of justice.
Unfortunately a small group of lawyers think they can raisetheir voice...argue with authority and conviction. Raisingyour voice just shows inadequacy and incompetence," the CJIsaid, adding that some senior members of the Bar have beenindulging in high pitch arguments.
The court said, "when lawyers argue in a manner not intune with the constitutional language, we will tolerate it butfor how long? If the Bar does not regulate itself, we will becompelled to regulate".
The court's observations came after senior advocate GopalSubramanium, who was appearing in the Parsi conversion matter,raised the issue of lawyers shouting in the court.
He said that the tendency of shouting by senior advocateswas getting acute and lawyers should must exercise restraintand show respect to the judicial institution. PTI SJK ABA RKSARC.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.