Courts send a message, get back to work

All courts including the Supreme Court suspended work briefly following the blast outside the Delhi high court.

All courts including the Supreme Court suspended work briefly following the blast outside the Delhi high court.

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Even though HC resumed work, no effective hearing took place and judges preferred to adjourn matters. “If an advocate wished to argue the matter, judges allowed it. But, no adverse orders were passed,” said a lawyer.

Work at the six district courts was suspended for the day, while proceedings at the apex court continued after a short break.

Former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium, appearing for the Maharashtra government in the 1993 bomb blast cases urged the bench headed by justice Dalveer Bhandari to adjourn the day’s proceedings. Expressing “deep shock and anguish,” justice Bhandari asked the advocates to render all possible assistance to the injured.

The bench of justice GS Singhvi and justice HL Dattu too adjourned the hearing of Sanjay Chandra’s bail plea in the 2G case after senior counsel Ram Jethmalani informed it about the blast.

Though the Delhi high court will proceed with judicial work from Thursday, its bar association has advised the lawyers to ask clients to refrain from visiting the court.

"We have told the advocates to ensure there is no overcrowding of the court for atleast a week. If a client is required to attend the hearing, only one person should come instead of a team," Kriti Uppal, vice-president of Delhi High Court Bar Association, said.

“We want to send a message that we will not be bogged down by such incidents. We had a brief chat with the home minister and he stressed on the need for beefing up security,” Delhi Bar Council president Rakesh Tiku said.

Delhi Bar Association leader Rajiv Khosla said advocates of district bars had protested against the blast by abstaining from work. However, the lawyers will resume work on Thursday, he added.