SC dubs 30-year long strike of Uttarakhand lawyers 'illegal'

In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday held the strike conducted by Uttarakhand advocates in Dehradun, Haridwar and other places, on all working Saturdays as 'illegal'. The issue came to the notice of the apex court while it was hearing an appeal against the verdict of the Uttarakhand High Court which had held as "illegal" the strikes or boycotts of court work on all Saturdays by lawyers in Dehradun and in several parts of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar.

A bench was headed by justices Arun Mishra and MR Shah said the strike called by lawyers on flimsy grounds is tantamount to contempt. The verdict was passed by Justice M R Shah. 

While delivering the verdict, Justice Shah also issued notice to the Bar Council of the state of Uttarakhand and asked it to initiate contempt of court proceedings against those allegedly involved in such kinds of strikes. Furthermore, the court issued notices to the Bar Council of India and the State Bar Council, seeking their response.

READ: SC holds as illegal lawyers' strike on every Saturday in 3 Uttarakhand districts

The apex court had on February 21, rapped the lawyers for resorting to such a “joke” and holding strikes for “flimsy reasons”, like a bomb blast in a Pakistan school and earthquake in Nepal, on all working Saturdays for more than 35 years.

In its September 25, 2019 verdict, the high court had referred to the 266th report of the Law Commission, which had analysed data on loss of working days on account of strikes by lawyers and had opined that it affects functioning of courts and contributes to the mounting pendency of cases.

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Almost 2 lakh government employees in Uttarakhand to go on strike from March 2

In another development, around  1,65,000 Uttarakhand government employees are set to go on an indefinite strike from March 2. As per sources, the reason behind the strike begin promotions in various departments abiding by Supreme Court directions.

Furthermore, over 30,000 workers involved with critical public services like health, water, power are likely to join the strike from March 5.

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