The Supreme Court took note of repeated strike calls by the Gautam Buddha Nagar Bar Association and directed the district judiciary to compile details of court boycotts and abstentions from work by its members.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi laid down a mechanism to assess the extent of disruption and initiate disciplinary action. It directed the District and Sessions Judge of Gautam Buddha Nagar to submit details of such strike days to the Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court.
The Court further instructed that upon receipt of the report, immediate action should be taken in accordance with its earlier directions. It also requested the High Court’s committee constituted to examine the issue to act promptly on the district judge’s report.
These directions were issued to enforce the Court’s prior ruling prohibiting lawyers’ strikes. The Bench noted that the Gautam Buddha Nagar Bar Association had repeatedly passed resolutions calling for abstention from work, in violation of the Court’s December 2024 judgment restraining such practices.
Observing that the issue was not isolated, the Court recorded those continuous resolutions for strikes had been passed by the Bar Association’s leadership, resulting in continued disruptions.It was brought to the Court’s notice that a three-member committee had already been constituted by the Allahabad High Court to examine the matter. However, the Bench indicated that further and immediate steps were required given the persistence of such disruptions.
In recent years, lawyers in Gautam Buddha Nagar have frequently resorted to strike calls over local administrative and professional concerns, significantly affecting court functioning. These abstentions have led to adjournments across district courts in Noida and Greater Noida, leaving litigants unable to obtain hearings or routine relief.
On several occasions, strikes have extended for multiple days, effectively paralysing judicial work. The impact has also extended to registry operations, with filing and administrative processes being slowed or halted during such periods.
The Court reiterated its consistent position that collective boycotts of court proceedings by lawyers are impermissible, a principle reaffirmed in its December 2024 judgment.
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