In a significant development, the Supreme Court of India instructed senior members of the Seoni District Bar Association, Madhya Pradesh, to issue an unconditional apology for orchestrating a lawyers’ strike in March 2024. The directive was issued in response to the association’s protest over the allocation of land for a new court complex, a decision taken without their consultation.
The case was presided over by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, who were addressing the appeal against the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order. This prior order had imposed a one-month ban on ten association members from appearing in any court and prohibited them from contesting elections in the Bar Association or state Bar Council.
During the proceedings, the petitioners’ counsel highlighted that the strike was a reaction to the state government’s unilateral decision to relocate the District Court Complex, which had not involved the District Bar Association. In light of these events, Chief Justice Khanna remarked, “You (petitioners) should not have done that… file a written apology.” Subsequently, the court ordered the petitioners to submit their apologies within ten days and scheduled a follow-up hearing for the week commencing May 5.
The bench also decided to maintain the interim stay on the challenged decision, which had initially been instituted on April 10, 2024, by then Chief Justice DY Chandrachud. This stay was a response to a prior judgment by the Division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Vishal Mishra during the hearing of a Suo Moto PIL concerning lawyer strikes, which referenced an earlier case, Praveen Pandey v. The State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors. This case had established a precedent against lawyers’ strikes.
The situation leading up to this directive began when senior bar members declared a strike from March 18-20, 2024, prompting the High Court’s intervention based on established legal precedents that discourage such actions among legal professionals.
