CUTTACK: Chief Justice of Orissa High Court S Muralidhar has requested the lawyers to avoid using terms such as "my lord" or "your lordship" while addressing him.
A note attached to the cause list of cases issued on Monday for hearing by the Chief Justice's bench said: "All counsel and parties in person are requested to try and avoid addressing the judges of this bench as 'My Lord', 'Your Lordship', 'Your Honour' or with prefix 'Hon'ble'. Any other form of address, consistent with the decorum of the Court, including 'Sir', should suffice".
Justice Muralidhar took over as Chief Justice on January 4, 2021. Earlier in 2009, he had requested lawyers in Delhi High Court not to address him as "your lordship".
In 2020, lawyers in the Punjab and Haryana High Court were also requested to avoid using terms such as "my lord" or "your lordship" while addressing him. He was Judge of the High Court of Delhi from May 29, 2006, till March 5, 2020, and thereafter of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana from March 6 2020 till January 3, 2021.
Secretary of Orissa High Bar Association Secretary J K Lenka, said, "It is a welcome move by the Chief Justice. Other judges should follow him. Counsels and litigants should also follow this."
Senior lawyers recollected that the Orissa High Court had started the move to discontinue the practice of using terms as "your lordship" to address judges during the tenure of Chief Justice Gatikrushna Mishra (1969-75).
A full court had then passed an order for addressing of the judges as 'sir' but it could not be adopted till date, they said while welcoming the request of Chief Justice Muralidhar. The Bar Council of India (BCI) had adopted a resolution to do away with the practice in 2006. The BCI said addressing the judges as 'My Lord', 'Your Lordship' is a relic of the colonial past. But the practice has continued.