In note to lawyers, Justice S Muralidhar asks for avoiding ‘my lord’, ‘your lordship’ while addressing him

Justice S Muralidhar, who took oath as judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court earlier this month, has requested lawyers to avoid using terms such as “my lord” or “your lordship” while addressing him.

“It is for the information of respected members of the Bar that Hon’ble Justice S Muralidhar has requested that they may try and avoid addressing him as ‘your lordship’ or ‘my lord’,” according to a note attached to the cause list of cases issued for Monday by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, news agency PTI reported.

Notably, a few years ago, the high court bar association had asked its members to prefer addressing judges as “sir” or “your honour”, though many lawyers continue to use terms such as “your lordship” to address them.

Justice Muralidhar, who was transferred here from the Delhi high court, was greeted with roses by a number of lawyers in the high court auditorium during the oath-taking ceremony on March 6.

Most roads leading to the high court complex were dotted with welcome hoardings. “Delhi’s loss is Punjab’s gain,” read one of them.

After the chief justice, Justice Muralidhar is the senior-most judge at Punjab and Haryana high court. Justice Muralidhar will also be part of the high court collegiums, comprising chief justice RS Jha and justice Rajiv Sharma.

The notification of Justice Muralidhar’s transfer from Delhi high court came late in the night of February 26, hours after he had rebuked Delhi Police for their failure to register first information reports (FIRs) against political leaders who made hate speeches that may have fuelled the communal violence that rocked Northeast Delhi.

After a controversy over his transfer, the judge had cleared the air, saying he had told Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde that he had no objection when the CJI wrote to him about his imminent shift to the Punjab and Haryana high court.