Lawyer sits in car, argues case, HC unhappy

Lawyer sits in car, argues case, HC unhappy

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:06.02.2021

The pandemic did strange things to institutions clinging on to their starched traditions.

For instance, the onlineonly hearing of court proceedings has witnessed such spectacle as lawyers in casuals, those caught smoking or lying sprawled on bed during virtual arguments, those using expletives without muting the mike – no doubt, all of them were pulled up or fined by different courts.

Now, the incidence of such inapt behaviours is down, but not fully out.

On Wednesday, Justice S M Subramaniam of the Madras high court took offence to a lawyer ‘arguing’ his case sitting inside his car, with another man watching the act from the rear seat.

Taking exception to the ‘casual’ approach adopted by the lawyer, the judge made it clear that such acts would tantamount to disrespecting court proceedings.

“Counsel for the petitioner, by sitting in a stationed car in a causal manner, is representing the case, which is impermissible in view of the video-conferencing rules notified by the high court.”

He said, “Back side of the car another person was also sitting, and this court is of the opinion that such a way of representing case amounts to disrespecting the court proceedings as per the high court video-conferencing rules.”

He then directed the erring advocate to file an affidavit by February 4, explaining his act.

The Madras high court, which is scheduled to resume its in-person proceedings from February 8, after nearly 10 months of pandemic-induced lockdown protocol, had come out with a circular listing at least 10 don’ts for lawyers advancing virtual arguments. Though they do not specifically mention arguing while sitting inside car would amount to misconduct, the guidelines do say: “All proceedings conducted by a court by way of video-conferencing shall be judicial proceedings and all the courtesies and protocols applicable to proceedings in physical courts shall apply Mulalis Mulandis.”

However, several lawyers say they are constrained to stand on roadside, waiting for their cases to be called due to want of seamless connectivity. They, then, choose to sit inside cars, as windshields act as noise-cutters during arguments.