Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana forms panel to probe bench-hunting plaints

In May, a senior judge of the high court had hinted at a possible case of bench hunting in a matter involving a Gurugram realtor and a former judicial officer.

The Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana has constituted a panel to look into complaints of “bench hunting” to obtain favourable order at the Punjab and Haryana high court. Council chairman Rakesh Gupta said the privilege committee, headed by Raj Kumar Chauhan, a member of the Bar Council, has been asked to immediately start the proceedings on the same.

Bench hunting or forum shopping refers to petitioners managing to get their cases heard by a particular judge or bench to ensure favourable order.

Bench hunting or forum shopping refers to petitioners managing to get their cases heard by a particular judge or bench to ensure favourable order. In May, a senior judge of the high court had hinted at a possible case of bench hunting in a matter involving a Gurugram realtor and a former judicial officer. It had come to light in that case that a particular lawyer was taken as the filing counsel only to get the case de-listed from a particular judge.

However, Gupta did not confirm whether the same case was being investigated and said, “A few names have to come to us.”

The council is the statutory body with 1.5 lakh members across two states and Chandigarh. It has regulatory control over the Bars and regulates entry into the legal profession and also adjudicates complaints against lawyers. It is established under the Advocates Act, 1961, and is headquartered in Chandigarh.

“The committee is authorised to adopt all procedures, including issuance of notice, recording statement, summoning the record, if any as provided under the Advocates Act, if so required. The said committee is also authorised to collect all the information, data, record from various agencies, including press, high court and other sources, if so required,” the statement put out by the chairman said.

As per Gupta, some of the members of Bar Council had pointed out to him that some advocates of high court, to secure “favourable orders” from a particular bench or avoiding to appear before a bench, are doing bench-hunting. “This is a serious misuse of the privileges granted to advocates under the Advocates Act. At the same time, it is a responsibility of the Bar Council to maintain dignity, status and reputation of the legal profession,” said Gupta, adding that he had come across one such case. An inquiry would be conducted to avoid such “unethical activities”, he added.