The Kerala High Court has established a committee, led by Chief Justice SV Bhatti, to address and resolve complaints from lawyers.
The committee is comprised of Chief Justice SV Bhatti, Justice A Muhamed Mustaque, Justice Somarajan P, Advocate General of Kerala, Chairman of the Bar Council of Kerala and the President of the High Court Bar Association.
According to the notice released by the Registrar General, the committee will address legitimate complaints regarding misconduct by any member of the lower judiciary. However, it is important that such grievances are authentic and do not exert undue pressure on any judicial officer.
“The Grievance Redressal Committee may consider the genuine grievance related to the difference of opinion or dissatisfaction because of procedural changes in filing/listing of the matters and any genuine grievance pertaining to misbehavior of any member of the lower judiciary, provided such grievance must be genuine and not to keep pressure on any judicial officer” the notice reads.
It further indicated that the committee was formed in compliance with a recent Apex Court order, which mandated all High Courts to establish a Grievance Redressal Committee for the resolution of lawyers’ grievances.
The aforementioned order was passed by a bench comprising Justice MR Shah and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah following an application filed by the Bar Council of India. The purpose of establishing these committees was to address the frequent strikes and boycotts carried out by members of the bar, as well as to redress their authentic grievances.
“We once again reiterate that no member of the Bar can go on strike and/or abstain himself from court working. Time and again, this Court has emphasised and criticized the advocates going on strike and abstaining them from work. If the member of the Bar has any genuine grievance or the difficulty … they can very well make a representation and it is appropriate that their genuine grievances are considered by some forum so that such strikes can be avoided and members of the Bar who might have genuine grievances like above may ventilate their grievances,” the order stated.
