Row over age of CJ snowballs as advocates boycott courts

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, NOV. 24. The controversy over the age of the Chief Justice of India snowballed today with a section of the advocates boycotting proceedings in the Madras High Court.

The Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) said it called for the boycott to highlight its demand for intervention by the President in determining the age of the Chief Justice under Art. 217 of the Constitution.

``We want the President to immediately intervene to resolve the Constitutional crisis created by the controversy, by ordering a fresh inquiry into the date of birth of the CJI'', the MHAA president, Mr. R. Karuppan, who led the agitation, said. ``Fresh evidence now available suggested that the CJI had already attained the age of superannuation, and pending the inquiry, the CJI should step down from the office'', he said.

Claiming success in the boycott agitation, Mr. Karuppan said when the issue came up in 1991, courts had dismissed petitions challenging Dr. Justice Anand's age. The import of the orders was that the issue of age of the Chief Justice was not justiciable. However, the controversy again cropped up with the publication of the former Union Law Minister, Mr. Ram Jethmalani's book.

Questioning the veracity of the documents produced in favour of the CJI's claims now, Mr. Karuppan wanted to know whether determination of the age by the President under Art. 217 of the Constitution ever took place, as contended by some sections, he said. It may be recalled that a Chennai lawyer, Mr. S. K. Sundaram, who raised the issue in 1991, is now facing contempt proceedings for sending a telegram recently to the Supreme Court threatening to take up criminal proceedings against the CJI over the issue.

Mr. Karuppan said the MHAA would stand by Mr. Sundaram in the issue.

The agitating group of advocates went around the court campus raising slogans in support of their demand.

Later, the MHAA members met the Chief Justice, Mr. N. K. Jain, with a grievance that a Judge had dismissed the cases in which advocates did not appear because of the boycott. They sought his intervention for restoration of the dismissed cases. The Chief Justice said he would look into the issue.

Stir in districts

Nearly 2,300 lawyers in Madurai district boycotted courts in response to the call given by the Madras High Court Advocates' Association. The court boycott had its impact in the southern districts of Sivaganga, Virudhunagar and Theni also.

Around 165 lawyers belonging to Ramanathapuram, Rameswaram, Kamudhi and Thiruvadanai courts abstained from court proceedings.

In Tirunelveli district, the lawyers in the rural centres of Valliyoor, Shencottai, Nanguneri, Sankarankoil, Sivagiri, Ambasamudram and Tenkasi boycotted courts.

However the advocates of Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai towns did not participate in the strike and attended the courts as usual, according to police sources.

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Section  : Southern States
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