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Would not be deterred by social media posts, said a judge of Madras High Court

Madras High Court

A judge of the Madras High Court was dealing with an anticipatory bail application from an advocate and her lawyer daughter. He made certain remarks against the behaviour of the lawyers with police personnel at public places, and said that he would not be deterred by the posts on social media.

Advance bail petitions from advocate Tanuja Rajan and her daughter Preeti Rajan, residents of Chetpet, Chennai came up yesterday. During the hearing, Justice M Dhandapani said in the open court that unwarranted messages were on circulation in the social media against him for questioning the conduct of lawyers in public places.

The judge warned, “I will not be deterred by such messages and I would not hesitate to act when things take an ugly turn.”

Also Read: Officials of Election Commission should be booked for murder, said Chief Justice of Madras High Court while castigating ECI

The High Court judge was entertaining bail applications on June 16. During that hearing, he had directed the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the State unit of the Bar Council of India governing the legal profession, to spell out the mechanism in place to curb such behaviours of the erring lawyers.

Following this, S Haja Mohideen Gisthi, representing the TN Bar Council, filed a status-report before the judge on Thursday.

The status-report said that the Bar Council has been receiving complaints with regard to the ‘professional misconduct’ of certain lawyers only.

This is the first time that the Bar Council of TN has received complaints against two women lawyers. The complaints came from the DCP, Flower Bazaar and the Kilpauk police.

Notices have been issued to the two advocates seeking their explanation. The notices added that disciplinary committee attached to the Bar Council would proceed with the complaints as per the provisions of the Advocates Act.

Also Read: Supreme Court said that media cannot be stopped from reporting any court hearing

The judge asserted that lawyers belong to a noble profession. He further explained that lawyers cannot enter into a street fight with everyone on the road even if the other person is on the wrong side. Regardless of the normative, instances have come to the notice of this court where the legal fraternity has also indulged in some high-handed activity against the law enforcing agency.

The judge had observed on June 16 that it is a harsh reality that instances of such nature by the members of the legal fraternity are on the increase.

Complaints against lawyers are increasing with each passing day, the judge noted. Additionally, videos are being circulated, the judge added and posted the matter for orders on Friday.

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Chief Justice of Madras High Court refused to withdraw his comment on the election commission

Madras-high-court

Madras High Court Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee has refused to withdraw his observation against both the Centre and the Election Commission of India of having failed to be prepared for the second wave surge, saying that the post-mortem on the entire count can wait.

Also Read: Officials of Election Commission should be booked for murder, said Chief Justice of Madras High Court while castigating ECI

Repeated attempts by the Additional Solicitor General and Senior Counsel Rakesh Dwivedi appearing for ECI to reconsider the earlier remarks about the former’s unpreparedness and the latter’s failure to implement its statutory function during the pandemic, failed to evoke any directions in this regard.

Also Read: Election commission has torn down the page of “impartiality” from its rulebook, says Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

Instead, the first bench comprising the Chief Justice and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said, “Two aspects cannot be missed. The Union’s endeavour that the surge in numbers may have been unexpected and preparatory measures may have been taken for quite some time and the second aspect is the Election Commission’s concern of sensationalism. The post-mortem on the entire count has to wait, particularly in terms of the measures that need to be in place.”

The comment by the Madras High Court has led to FIRs being filed against the poll body as it had not taken any measure to ensure that the number of phases of polling remain at minimum in West Bengal or limit the campaigning before polling in the states.

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Officials of Election Commission should be booked for murder, said Chief Justice of Madras High Court while castigating ECI

Madras_HC

Today, a consitutional body probably for the first time had to face the flak of judiciary for being casual about election rallies which increased the risk of spread of the pandemic.

The entire world observed as BJP went ahead with rallies despite the second wave of Covid19. The Congress was the first to cancel its rallies in poll-bound states. Talks about possible nexus between BJP and the election commission were doing rounds across various discussion platforms and among the public. But, today election commission had to face the wrath of Madras high court in the context of allowing rallies in the middle of pandemic.

On Monday, the Madras High Court slammed the Election Commission of India for allowing political rallies amid a deadly second wave of Covid-19.

The Election Commission is singularly responsible for the second wave of Covid-19 by not stopping political parties from holding election rallies, Madras HC Chief Justice Sanjib Bannerjee said on Monday as he reprimanded the poll body.

The Madras HC also observed that the officials of Election Commission of India should be booked for murder.

Also See: Would West Bengal election really be a three-way fight after the defections?

The High Court observed, “Your institution is singularly responsible for the second wave of Covid-19. Election Commission officers should be booked on murder charges probably.”

The Madras HC further went on to warn that it will stop counting on May 2 if the Election Commission does not put in place a proper plan to ensure that the Covid-19 protocol is followed.

The court also said that the public health is of paramount importance and that it was distressing to see that constitutional authorities have to be reminded of it.

Also See: New mutants of Coronavirus

The Chief Justice Banerjee said, “Public health is of paramount importance and it is distressing that constitutional authorities have to be reminded in such regard. It is only when a citizen survives that he will be able to enjoy the rights that a democratic republic guarantees.”

The Chief Justice of Madras High Court further added, “The situation now is of survival and protection. Everything else comes next.”

“Were you on another planet when the election rallies were held?” the Chief Justice of Madras High Court asked ECI when its counsel said measures were taken to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Also Read: Issues faced by India in dealing with Covid 19 resurge- Is it too late to contain the Second Wave

The Madras High Court has directed the Election Commission of India and Tamil Nadu Chief Election Officer to consult with the Health Secretary and draft a Covid-19 protocol for the counting day and submit the same on April 30.

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Madras High Court states that P Chidambaram’s 2009 Lok Sabha Election Win Holds

P Chidambaram's

The victory of Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram from Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga constituency in the 2009 Lok Sabha election holds, the Madras High Court said today, cancelling a petition which challenged the former Union Minister’s Lok Sabha election win.

Raja Kannappan, who lost to Mr. Chidambaram that year, had approached the high court, alleging manipulation. He had alleged that the Congress leader was involved in cash distribution to voters and misused his power as Union Home Minister during that period. Mr. Chidamabaram, now a Rajya Sabha member, had refuted the allegations.

“The entire allegations made are imaginary and there is no evidence to any of it,” he said in March last year when he was cross-examined by the lawyers of the petitioner.

Also Read: AIADMK leader stated clearly that BJP must toe in as a second fiddle in TN polls or leave the alliance

When asked about the declaration of election results and the delay in his constituency, the former minister said that he was not aware of the time when the election results were out and also in most of the places he knew it was only during that time the official results were announced.

Asked if he knew who was leading in the election, Mr. Chidambaram said that he did not remember as it has been 10 years since it took place.

Mr. Chidambaram was declared elected from Sivaganga, defeating Mr. Kannappan who contested on an AIADMK ticket by a slender 3,354 vote margin after a see-saw battle that went down to the wire. He has represented Sivaganga six times in the Lok Sabha. His son Karti Chidambaram is the current parliamentarian from Sivaganga. He won a second term in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.