Supreme Court rebukes lawyer for bringing wheelchair-bound client to court for "sympathy"

The Supreme Court on Wednesday took exception to a lawyer bringing his paralysed and wheelchair-bound client to the court though the Court had not mandated such personal presence of the concerned litigant [Iffco Tokio General Insurance Co Ltd vs Rahul Kumar and anr].

A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and PV Sanjay Kumar noted that the matter could have been heard by relying on counsel's submissions alone.

"Learned counsel for the respondent no.1 has submitted that the said respondent, said to be paralyzed, is before the Court to attend the hearing. We are at loss to find any reason that the said claimant-respondent has been advised to attend the hearing in this Court, particularly when he is said to be otherwise not in a proper physical condition. This Court has never asked or expected him to appear for the purpose of hearing", the order notes.

The bench further directed that the case be placed before the Chief Justice of India for re-assignment.

The order was passed in a case dealing with compensation and liabilities owed by an insurance company. The Court had, in November 2019, while issuing notice, stayed the enhanced compensation involved.

During today's hearing, the counsel for the petitioners informed that as against the claim of the first respondent (claimant), an amount of ₹57 lakh was already paid.

The counsel for that respondent then stated that the claimant concerned was present in court to attend the hearing.

This invited the ire of the bench which remarked that it felt the respondent’s presence was being used to 'seek undue sympathy'.

It, therefore, released the matter from its board.

Advocates Manish Kumar and Gopal Singh appeared for the petitioners.

Advocates Navneet Goyal, Manjeet Chawla and Usha Pant Kukreti represented the respondents.

[Read Order]