Calcutta HC CJ chides lawyers for political meet in courtroom

KOLKATA: Calcutta high court's Chief Justice (CJ) T S Sivagnanam on Friday admonished a section of bar association office-bearers and lawyers owing allegiance to "a particular party" for what he said was an "unpardonable" act-threatening the registrar general's staff into opening a shut courtroom for a political meeting.
CJ Sivagnanam said the transgression was so serious that he was contemplating making the court premises out of bounds from 1.30pm to 2pm and 5.30pm to 10am.He is also considering whether to refer the issue to a larger HC bench. Addressing additional solicitor general Asoke Chakrabarti in an open courtroom, the chief justice said, "I was mentioning a nasty incident that occurred in the office of the registrar general yesterday... Now, I have received a message that two of the persons are assistant secretary of the (HC) bar association, Falguni Bandyopadhyay, and the other person was Rajesh Shah." Chakrabarti assured the CJ that he would look into the matter.
Bar association secretary Shankar Prashad Dalapati claimed that the meeting was convened by members of BJP's legal cell.