Lawyer fined for non-appearance

PUNE: Additional district and additional sessions judge M R Ramchandani on Saturday slapped a fine of Rs 500 on advocate Manoj Wadekar for not appearing in the court in spite of agreeing for a date in the Maharashtra Cricket Association case.
Wadekar is the lawyer for Ajay Shirke and the Nanded District Cricket Association and he was to appear for the stay application of the scheme mooted by Deputy Charity Commissioner R.D.Tayade on 13-07-1999. The case will now be heard on October 28.
It is learnt that the judge also pointed out that some of the lawers were dilly-dallying the matter unnecessarily and thereby prolonging the proceedings of the court.
The judge said that the date of hearing was fixed after asking the lawyers themselves and they could not be excused for non-appearance in the court without valid reasons.
Wadekar, however, was not available for comment.
Some of the lawyers, notably representing the MCA interim com-mittee, requested the judge to postpone the hearing after the New Zealand-Australia one-dayer scheduled at the Nehru Stadium on November 3. However, the judge maintained his stand and fixed the date for October 28.
Meanwhile, the appeals made by the Dnyaneshwar Agashe group seeking cancellation of Joint Charity Commissioner’s order that set aside the MCA elections and forming of an interim committee to look into the matters of the Association will be heard this week.
Last week, ad-hoc additional district judge A R Yadkikar had or-dered that the appeals be reregistrated as Miscelleanous Civil Appeals.
The matter will now be heard before the fourth ad-hoc additional district and additional sessions judge L A Borde.