CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has said that lawyers also have to pay the toll fee on highways like the general public.
The observation was made by Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy recently when allowing a petition filed by two advocates seeking to quash the case registered against them and other lawyers who had staged a protest at the Ulundurpet toll plaza seeking exemption from paying the toll on the Chennai-Tiruchy highway.
Referring to the protest and the registration of the case, the judge said the entire episode is nothing but an expression of their right to democratic protest though for a bizarre reason.
“Merely because the petitioners are members of the Bar, they cannot be placed on a separate pedestal. When a toll is legally collected from the public, it must be paid by the members of the Bar as well,” he said.
The petition was filed by Rajkumar and Sreethar alias Sridharan praying for quashing the case pending at the judicial magistrate court-I in Ulundurpet consequent to the FIR registered by the police for unlawful assembly, wrongful restraint and violating a public order under Sections 189 (2), 126 (2) and 223 of the BNS.
The judge noted the record revealed no violence or disturbance to public order and that the materials did not suggest the petitioner had intended to commit any criminal offence.
He ordered quashing of the case pending at the judicial magistrate court-I in entirety against the petitioners and other accused persons.