Madras High Court Advocates Association issues resolution condemning CAT judicial member’s conduct

The Madras High Court Advocates’ Association (MHAA) has passed a resolution condemning the conduct of a Judicial Member and Head of the Department of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Chennai bench, Lata Basavaraj Patne, for having asked a senior member of the Bar to "get out" of her courtroom during a hearing.

In its resolution issued on September 22, the MHAA claimed that Patne had asked advocate R Sankarasubbu to “get out” during the hearing of a case. Such conduct, the Association said, was unbecoming on the part of a judicial member.

The resolution, signed by 230 members, says MHAA will also send a representation to the chairperson of the CAT and the Union government asking that Patne be transferred out of Chennai.

MHAA members said that Patne's conduct did not inspire confidence in her impartiality.

The members further said that Patne's conduct towards lawyers from Chennai had changed noticeably after the Association filed a public interest litigation in the Madras High Court claiming that order copies for around 150 matters heard between January and April this year were yet to be issued by the Chennai bench of CAT.

On September 22, when the lawyer concerned, R Sankarasubbu, urged Patne to list a case that he was appearing in, before some other bench, she asked him to "get out," MHAA said.

Patne then said that the lawyers may send a letter to the registry for posting their cases before another bench.