Calcutta High Court: In a petition to challenge the resolution of the Bar Council of West Bengal to observe ‘Black Day’ as a protest against the new criminal laws, Shampa Sarkar, J. held that the resolution of the Bar Council could not be treated as a mandate on the advocates to abstain from work and that the advocates willing to appear before the courts were entitled to do so without fear of disciplinary or coercive measures..
The resolution under challenge in this petition resolved to observe ‘Black Day’ on 01-07-2024 as a mark of protest against the new criminal laws, i.e., Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.
The resolution also stated that the lawyers of West Bengal and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands would abstain from judicial work and instructed all Bar Associations to organize a protest rally in their respective associations on the said date.
The petitioner challenged the authority of the Bar Council to call such a strike to which the Bar Council sought an opportunity to file their affidavit-in-opposition.
The Court stated that it was a settled position of law that no one could be compelled to observe a strike or cease work.
Further, the Court held that lawyers perform a public function and cannot be coerced into abstaining from work, further clarifying that the resolution does not mandate abstention but merely requests participation in rallies, which cannot be enforced as a mandate.
The Court further held that no coercive measures or disciplinary action or any other action should be taken against such advocates who wished to espouse the cause of their clients and appear for the interest of their clients.
Lastly, the Court also stated that the rallies that had been asked to be organized were in the nature of a request to the Bar Association and could not be treated as a mandate.
[Sahasrangshu Bhattacharjee v. Bar Council of W.B., 2024 SCC OnLine Cal 6309, Order dated 28-06-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For Petitioner — Advocate Lokenath Chatterjee, Advocate Kaustav Ch. Das, Advocate Gouranga Ch. Das, Advocate Falguni Bandyopadhyay, Advocate Rajen Banerjee, Advocate Sukanta Ghosh, Advocate Rini Bhattacharyya, Advocate Tiyasa Biswas, Advocate Mary Dutta, Advocate Atanu Basu, Advocate Madhu Jana, Advocate Arghya Chatterjee, Advocate Sagnik Roy Chowdhury, Advocate Shilpa Thapa, Advocate Aishwarya Rajyashree
For Respondent — Sr. Advocate Saptangshu Basu, Advocate Pantu Deb Roy, Advocate Lalit Mohoto, Advocate Achinta Banerjee, Advocate Ananta Shaw, Advocate Biswaroop Bhattacharya, Advocate Biswa Brata Basu Mulick, Advocate Sanjay Bardhan, Advocate Sabnam De Bardhan, Advocate Souvik Ganguly, Advocate Tarun Chatterjee