The Kerala High Court sought the Registrar General’s response on Monday to a petition seeking directions not to list the cases of advocate Prerith Philip Joseph before his mother, Justice Mary Joseph.
Justice Shaji P Chaly issued notice on the petition filed by advocate Yeshwanth Shenoy and scheduled the matter for consideration next week.
The petitioner claimed that despite a specific order from the Chief Justice of Kerala prohibiting advocates from visiting any of the judge’s chambers, advocate Philip frequently visits the chamber of his mother, Justice Joseph.
“The Respondent No.3 (Advocate Philip) has blatantly violated the orders of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of this Hon’ble Court that restrains advocates from visiting the chambers of the Judges,” the plea stated.
He also stated that the Registrar General is obligated to ensure that no matters involving Advocate Philip’s vakalat are brought before Justice Joseph.
Shenoy claimed that on February 9, advocate Philip visited Justice Joseph’s chamber to persuade her to file a false complaint with the BCK and the Chief Justice regarding Shenoy’s alleged misconduct during the hearings.
Shenoy argued that Justice Joseph is bound by the Code of Judicial Ethics contained in the Supreme Court of India’s “Restatement of Values of Judicial Life.”
He claimed that every day, advocate Philip sits in Justice Joseph’s chamber and abuses the Court’s staff.
As a result, he requested that the Registrar General issue a directive to the Registrar General to strictly adhere to the protocols required when visiting a judge’s chambers, which require the entry of the names of those visiting the Judge.
This is not the first time Shenoy has filed a petition against Justice Joseph.
Shenoy had appeared before Justice Joseph in a matter in the first week of February.
She then wrote to the Bar Council of Kerala (BCK) alleging Shenoy’s misconduct in court.
Following that, on February 14, BCK served Shenoy with a show cause notice.
Shenoy then filed a petition challenging the BCK’s show cause notice, alleging that documents were being leaked from the High Court Registry to news agencies.
While hearing the said plea on March 7, the Court directed its registry to keep the video recording of the court proceedings.
On February 27, Shenoy filed another petition challenging the reduction of the list of cases before Justice Joseph to around 20 cases, despite the fact that most judges have over 100 cases listed before them each day.
The Court decided on March 3 to hear Shenoy’s plea first on the issue of maintainability.
At around the same time, the Court initiated a criminal contempt of court case against Shenoy and appointed Senior Advocate Seemandini VP as counsel to assist the Court in carrying out the proceedings against Shenoy in accordance with Rule 15 of the Contempt of Courts (High Court of Kerala) Rules, 1971.
