Noida: Supreme Court recently asked a three-judge committee of Allahabad high court to take up for consideration the issue of repeated work abstentions by the Gautam Budh Nagar Bar Association over the past four months.The apex court made the observation while hearing a petition filed by Virendra Singh, who raised concern about disruptions in regular judicial work.Singh brought to the bench’s notice that district bar association president Manoj Kumar Bhati had repeatedly passed resolutions for lawyers to abstain from court work in violation of Supreme Court’s Dec 20, 2024, order directing bar associations not to hinder court work.“The district courts are just 40 km from SC, and there is a flagrant violation of SC’s orders. HC is not acting against the bar association president, who has made advocates abstain from court work a dozen times in the last year. One of the resolutions for abstaining from court work was passed to express condolences over the passing of a lawyer. The litigants are suffering,” the petitioner told the apex court.Records with the office of the Gautam Budh Nagar district judge reveal that advocates of the Bar Council abstained from work six times in Jan and on five days this Feb. Consequently, the court could work on 19 days and 17 days, respectively, in these two months. The bar members served a proposal for abstaining from work once each in March and April, taking the total number of abstentions to 13 during the last four months.According to records, the GB Nagar courts have 9.7 lakh pending cases, of which 3 lakh are more than a year old. In the last month, 7,283 new cases came up while 5,078 cases were disposed of, a fresh pile-up of roughly 2,000 cases to the existing load. An analysis of the causes of delay in case disposal showed non-availability of counsels as the topmost reason, followed by cases where the accused were absconding.An office bearer of the Bar Association said delays were not linked to advocates abstaining from work. “We are not salaried employees and our income depends on the functioning of the judiciary. So unless it is important, we never abstain from work,” said the member. Members of the Bar expressed their disappointment at not being afforded an opportunity to present their side to Supreme Court.District’s Bar Association president Bhati told TOI all the abstentions in the last four months were not strikes and included condolences when advocates or their family members died and a unanimous decision was taken to participate in their last rites as a humane gesture. On Jan 21, lawyers abstained from work due to UP Bar Council voting in GB Nagar, he said. “I would not like to comment further as a report in this regard will be sent to the committee by our district judge,” he said.Former secretary of GB Nagar Bar Association Ajit Nagar said that the Bar has to stand by the demands of its members. “If there is a death in the fraternity and the advocates are going to take part in the last rites, it becomes our moral duty to allow them and the proposal for abstention is sent to the district judge,” he said. Nagar further pointed out that though the advocates cannot go on a strike, they too need some method to demonstrate their protest democratically.Days lawyers abstained from work this yearJan 1 | Death of Advocate Poonam Sharma’s husbandJan 3 | Demand for High Court bench in western UPJan 5 | Advocate Netrpal Awana’s son killed in road accidentJan 12 | Death of Advocate Abdul Rijwana Rana’s wife (illness)Jan 21 | UP Bar Council voting in GB NagarJan 28 | Death of Advocate Pramod Kumar’s sonFeb 6 | Death of senior advocate, ex-ADGC Om Prakash NagarFeb 9 | Death of senior advocate Hem KumarFeb 12 | Murder of Advocate Farooq Ahmad KhanFeb 16 | Death of govt counsel Neeraj SharmaFeb 25 | Death of Advocate Jitendra Kasana’s wifeMar 16 | Protest over alleged police assault on Advocate Farid AhmadApr 22 (Wed) | Protest over alleged ransom demand in lawyers’ chamber construction
