Crl. Misc. No.M-6595 of 2009(O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc. No.M-6595 of 2009(O&M) Jaspal Singh ....Petitioner VERSUS Tarsem Singh Saini ....Respondent Crl. Misc. No.M-7380 of 2009(O&M) Jaspal Singh ....Petitioner VERSUS Tarsem Singh Saini ....Respondent Decided on : 23-09-2009 CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER Present:- Mr. J.S.Toor, Advocate for the petitioner. None for the respondent. MAHESH GROVER, J This order will dispose of two Crl.Misc. Petitions bearing nos. M-6595 of 2009 and M-7380 of 2009. These are two petition under Section 407 of the Code of Criminal Procedure praying for transfer of complaint no. 68 of 2003 titled as 'Tarsem Singh Saini versus Jaspal Singh' pending in the Court of SDJM, Dasuya, District Hoshiarpur and complaint no. 58 of 2003 titled as 'Tarsem Singh Saini versus Jaspal Singh and others' pending in the Court of JMIC, Dasuya, District Hoshiarpur to any other Court of competent jurisdiction outside District Hoshiarpur. Crl. Misc. No.M-6595 of 2009(O&M) 2 Learned counsel for the petitioner drew the attention of this Court to Annexure A-2 (placed in Crl.Misc. No. M-7380 of 2009) whereby the Bar Association of Dasuya, District Hoshiarpur passed resolution collectively to the following effect:- “An emergency meeting of Bar Association Dasuya held today under the Presidentship of Sh. Shubh Saroch Advocate and it has been resoved unanimously that all the members of Bar Association Dasuya shall abstain from court work for today in protest against the absolutely baseless and false allegations being leveled against one of our fellow member Sh. Tarsem Singh Saini, Advocate. The imputations have gone to such an extent that a false news items has been published in the Desh Sewak news paper. It deserves mention here that earlier also Jaspal Singh, the alleged complainant has filed false and frivolous complaints to various authorities, including the concerned Judges. The allegations are leveled against the said Advocate without any iota of truth and the said Advocate is none else, but the opposite counsel who is appearing in the civil as well as in the criminal cases against the alleged complainant pending before the Courts at Dasuya. The Advocate is the counsel for the woman petitioner Neelam Rani, who hails from village of the Advocate and belongs to his neighbourhood. Smt. Neelam Rani is the legally wedded wife of Jaspal Singh complainant, who has been driven out of her matrimonial house by her husband, because the above said Advocate has been pursuing Crl. Misc. No.M-6595 of 2009(O&M) 3 her cases so the alleged complainant, has been moving false and frivolous complaints against the Advocate with a malafide intention to tarnish and damage the reputation of the Advocate and with a view to pressurize the said Advocate to withdraw himself from the cases. The Bar as a whole views this matter very seriously, because such act and conduct of the litigants should be discouraged as this amounts to interference into the process of law and work of Courts. The Bar recommends that an inquiry should be conducted by some independent agency to reach at the truth. The Bar strongly condemns the unethical approach of the newspaper, which had published the false news item without verifying the facts. The Bar reserves its right to sue the Editor, Publisher and Press Reporter Mr. Manjeet Sidhu of Desh Sewak newspaper, if it does not tender an unconditional apology to the Bar and Mr. Tarsem Singh Saini Advocate and publish the same on the front page within seven days of the receipt of this resolution.” It is the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that in view of the above no lawyer is ready to represent his case and he apprehends that he will not get proper legal assistance and consequently his interest is likely to suffer. No one has appeared on behalf of the respondent. After hearing learned counsel for the petitioner and perusing the material on record, I am of the considered opinion that the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner merits acceptance. The lawyers have a Crl. Misc. No.M-6595 of 2009(O&M) 4 solemn duty to protect the interest of their clients and the practice in which they collectively get together to indulge in activities which are similar to a trade union and pass resolutions which have the effect of thwartling the rights of a citizen have to be checked. The person who is a litigant has a right to seek legal assistance. But the resolution which has been passed by Bar Association of Dasuya clearly result in paralysing the right of such an individual. It strikes at the very root of the judicial dispensation system. When a right has been given to a litigant to seek legal assistance then an equally solemn duty is cast upon an Advocate to protect the interest of such a litigant. The power which vests in an Advocate and the Association which represents their collective interest ought to be exercised to further the cause of justice and not be used as a tool to address and pacify the grievance of a member of such an Association individually to the detriment of the interest of an institution. It is always to be remembered that an individual is much lesser than an institution and no individual be placed over and above it. Since the facts reveal that the petitioner is unlikely to get any justice at Dasuya, the present petitions are allowed and proceedings in complaint no. 68 of 2003 titled as 'Tarsem Singh Saini versus Jaspal Singh' pending in the Court of SDJM, Dasuya, District Hoshiarpur and complaint no. 58 of 2003 titled as 'Tarsem Singh Saini versus Jaspal Singh and others' pending in the Court of JMIC, Dasuya, District Hoshiarpur are transferred to Courts of competent jurisdiction at Jalandhar. The Courts at Jalandhar shall issue notice to the parties for appearance after receipt of the cases on transfer. The petitioner may also, if so advised, move the Bar Council of Crl. Misc. No.M-6595 of 2009(O&M) 5 Punjab and Haryana for action against Lawyers who are responsible for his plight by resorting to such an unethical practice. September 23, 2009 (Mahesh Grover) rekha Judge