State Bar Council to probe allegations of bench hunting at Punjab and Haryana High Court

The Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana is set to probe the reports of bench hunting at Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Bar Council Chairman Rakesh Gupta has asked its privilege committee of the statutory body to take up the matter immediately and submit a report or recommendations as soon as possible after holding proceedings on a day-to-day basis.

"The Committee is authorized to adopt all procedures including issuance of notice, recording statement, summoning the record, if any as provided under the Advocates Act, if so required. The said Committee is also authorized to collect all the information, data, record from various agencies including Press, High Court and other sources, if so required," Gupta said in the order.

Gupta in the order disclosed that some of the Bar Council members had flagged reports stating "that some advocates of Punjab & Haryana High Court in order to get favourable orders from a particular bench or avoiding to appear before that Bench are doing Bench-hunting."

This is a serious misuse of the privileges granted to advocates under the Advocates Act, he said.

"At the same time, it is a responsibility of the Bar Council to maintain dignity, status and reputation of the legal profession. In case the Bar Council does not check any such step, then it will further deteriorate the judicial system and the reputation of the legal profession and at the same time the lawyers’ community will feel frustration," the order said.

Though a press release issued by the Bar Council did not reveal any particular case or instance of bench hunting, there has been controversy in the recent past with respect to a case involving bribery allegations against a judicial officer. Many judges including the Chief Justice have recused from the case filed by a businessman, who is a co-accused in the case.

Following certain complaints, Chief Justice Sheel Nagu had in May de-listed it from single-judge Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu of the High Court who had heard the matter at length and reserved it for judgment.

Chief Justice Nagu then started hearing the case himself. However, after hearing the case for a considerable period, he himself recused from the matter on the ground that he had dealt with the matter on the administrative side. Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi is the latest judge to recuse from hearing the case.

During a hearing of the case in May, Chief Justice Nagu had hinted at bench hunting in the matter when he said that a particular lawyer was taken as the filing counsel only to get the case de-listed from a particular judge. Since 2023, a slew of senior lawyers have appeared in the matter.