Bombay HC CJ raps advocate on record for blaming newbie lawyer; directs him to gift her Austin's 'The Indian Constitution'

MUMBAI: When an advocate on record (AOR) of the Memon Co-operative Bank Ltd sought to lay the blame on a dismissal of an appeal on a newbie lawyer, the new Chief Justice of the Bombay high court Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya expressed his displeasure at the act of making a junior lawyer a sacrificial lamb.
The appeal had been dismissed as no lawyer of the bank was present in court last December on the date it was listed.The Bank, represented by advocate on record, Jayesh Patel, blamed the young junior lawyer for not keeping tabs and informing him of the date.
“We find it most unfortunate that the AOR has sought to lay blame for non-appearance at the hand of a junior advocate, who had in fact enrolled as an advocate less than two months before the date on which the appeal came to be dismissed. What is worse still is that the junior advocate was made to file an affidavit stating the inadvertence was at her end", the court said.
On the CJ making his displeasure known, Bank’s counsel Raj Patel, however, immediately tendered an apology to the court.
The bank was seeking restoration of its appeal. The counsel also said the bank would immediately expunge the name of the junior advocate from the record.
Allowing the restoration in the interest of justice, the bench of the CJ and Justice Arif Doctor instead of imposing costs, directed the Bank’s AOR to gift a copy of the ‘The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation by Granville Austin’ to the young junior advocate as a “gesture of goodwill’’ and “to erase any misunderstanding or ill will that may have occurred’’ in her mind. The Bank’s counsel, the HC noted, was readily agreeable to the course of action it proposed.
The counsel had sought restoration saying the bank be given a second chance as it had diligently always prosecuted the appeal in an arbitration petition against R R Gera and another party. Harshad Sathe, counsel for one of the opponents, said the restoration, if granted , be put to some terms given the "cavalier and casual manner'' in which the interim application was filed.The HC restored the matter in public interest.