Why this lawyers’ body in Bangalore is demanding 2 crore from three newspapers

The Advocates Association of Bangalore (AAB) has issued a legal notice to three Kannada dailies accusing them of false and “scandalous” reporting. And at the centre of the controversy is the current Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, SK Mukherjee..Last week, the “Magistrate unit” of the AAB held a function to celebrate Kannada Rajyotsava and Ganesha Utsava, for which they had invited Chief Justice Mukherjee as the Chief Guest. The notice says that invitation cards for the event were printed out and circulated..However, the press had gotten hold of a separate letter addressed to the High Court Registrar General, signed by various members of the Association, demanding that Chief Justice Mukherjee stays away from the function. It is interesting to note that this letter carries the signatures and seals of the Vice-President and the Joint Secretary of the Association..The Association, on its part, has washed its hands clean of this letter..The legal notice states,.“…Association has not given any letter to the Registrar of the High Court of Karnataka objecting to the participation of the Hon’ble Chief Justice SK Mukherjee in participating…but has communicated the formal invite for the said function….It may be possible that some advocates may have given letters to the Registrar with which the Association has no concern…no communication will be addressed except under the signature of the General Secretary and the President…”.The notice goes on to accuse the media of spreading malicious propaganda to “create a rift between the Bar and the Bench” and of being “hand-in-glow (sic) with some miscreants”. The Association is now demanding Rs. 2 crore from each of the news outlets as compensation for libel, which has “dented the image of the Association very badly”..The lawyers’ body has also asked the dailies to publish an unconditional apology in their respective publications. The Association also made it clear that compliance with these demands will not absolve the publications of “reckless reporting” and that it would still have the option to approach a court of law to pursue their case..In July this year, the Association had passed a resolution demanding the transfer of Chief Justice Mukherjee from the Karnataka High Court, after the judge refused to take action against a person who reportedly offered him a bribe..AAB President HC Shivaramu could not be reached for comment.