30 C
Surat
Friday, February 14, 2025
30 C
Surat
Friday, February 14, 2025

Plea to hire retd dist judge as lawyer in dist court nixed


Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court turned down a petition seeking permission to engage a retired district judge to defend a case in a district court, as such hiring is prohibited by the Bar Council of India rules.
The petition was filed by Dhairya Overseas and its two proprietors from Jamnagar district. A magisterial court convicted them in a cheque return case, and they wanted to challenge the conviction in the Jamnagar sessions court.
For this, they wanted to engage H P Baxi, a lawyer who had retired from the post of the principal district judge. As Baxi had held the highest post in the subordinate judiciary, he was barred from practising in the lower courts and tribunals having equal or lower status than the office he held.
The petitioners hired Baxi as their lawyer in the high court, and he argued that it is the petitioners’ constitutional right to engage an advocate of their choice to defend themselves in a criminal proceeding. Advocate Baxi cited various judgments by the Supreme Court and the high court to assert that engaging an advocate of a litigant’s choice cannot be denied.
After hearing the case, Justice Aniruddha Mayee dismissed the petition and stated, “It is a trite law that the petitioners have the right to engage an advocate of their choice to defend themselves in the judicial proceedings; however, such a right is not an unbridled right. The said right is also subject to the Bar Council of India Rules, 1975, which are statutory rules.”
The court further stated, “The petitioners cannot insist on the engagement of one particular advocate who is having a legal bar under Rule 7 of the Rules, 1975. The petitioners can only engage an advocate of their choice in consonance with the Rules, 1975, and this court cannot grant any permission contrary to the Rules, 1975. The petitioners can exercise their right subject to the prevalent rules.”





Source link

Latest Articles