The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Wednesday wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud raising the issue of non-hearing of two matters pertaining to the "lives and livelihood" of its members.
In the letter, SCBA president and senior advocate Vikas Singh said non-hearing of these two matters, including the plea filed by the Bar body seeking a direction to the Ministry of Urban Development to grant permission for conversion of 1.33 acres allotted to the apex court near ITO as chamber blocks for lawyers, is a “serious concern”.
It said the other matter relates to urgent repair of ‘Supreme Towers’, constructed for the SCBA Multi-State Group Housing Society Limited in Noida, where over 700 lawyers reside with their families.
“Sir, the above two matters are concerning the 'lives and livelihood' of the members of SCBA and non-hearing of these matters is a serious concern,” Singh said in the letter.
“SCBA being equal stakeholder in the institution of justice dispensation cannot be construed as stranger in asserting the listing and hearing of a matter related to welfare of its members, in ordinary course,” the letter said.
It said by declining the request made by the SCBA for hearing the matters, the Bar body is being treated worse than an ordinary litigant.
“We are now getting a feeling that the SCBA, since it has never resorted to strike in its history, is not being given its due importance. Given this unfair treatment, we hope and trust that a situation will not be created to force us to resort to some dignified way of protest,” the letter said.
Singh said in the letter he is expressing the aspirations of the Bar which only wants to be treated like any other litigant without being accorded any priority and which expects expedition in decision-making in its matters.
-With PTI Input
