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ShareBanglore: A division bench of the High Court of Karnataka on Saturday granted an interim order staying the resolution of the Advocates' Association of Bangalore (AAB) calling upon its members to stay away from court proceedings on Monday in protest against Chief Justice PD Dinakaran continuing to discharge judicial functions despite grave allegations against him.
The AAB, however, declared its resolve to go ahead with its decision to keep off court proceedings on Monday. Earlier, the special bench comprising Justices Manjula Chellur and BV Nagarathna heard a petition filed challenging the AAB resolution in a marathon sitting that began at 10.30 am and went on till 5.30 pm. The petition was filed by MP Gundappa, who contended that the boycott move would hurt litigants like him.
Staying the resolution, the bench observed: "The issue involves not only advocates, but public also. The AAB has no concrete evidence against CJ Dinakaran. Its resolution is a violation of the apex court order."
Arguing on behalf of the AAB, former advocate-general RN Narasimha Murthy said: "The complaints against the CJ are pending before the Supreme Court collegium for the last one-and-a-half months. They have not taken any decision. In such a situation, there is no other way but to stay away from the court proceedings to uphold the dignity of the judiciary."
Senior counsel Pramila Nesargi said that it was one of the rarest of the rare cases. The Supreme Court has all the documents against Chief Justice Dinakaran and yet it has not taken any decision, warranting the AAB to decide to stay away from the courts.
Appearing for the state, additional advocate-general KM Natraj said the government would not support protest calls issued by any association.
HC registrar-general RB Budihal said that the AAB resolution was not in the interest of petitioners. AAB chairman KN Putte Gowda told dna.sunday: "Though the High Court has stayed our resolution, we will stick to our decision to abstain from court work. We won't participate in any court proceedings on Monday. If police arrest us, we are ready to go to jail.We had passed the resolution to uphold the dignity of the judiciary, but the court itself is not keen on it. Saturday's order is not in the interests of a clean judiciary."
