After finding that the lawyer didn’t engage any senior lawyer on August 25, contrary to the apex court’s impression, Supreme Court has expunged the critical remarks made against him. The critical remarks were made after the lawyer failed to speak a word during a virtual court hearing.
On August 25, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Navin Sinha have pulled the lawyer for not being able to speak a word before court even after being asked by the judges at least three times. The bench remarked that the lawyer ought to have been upfront with the bench that he was waiting for Senior Advocate to join.
“Despite the fact that the mike was on and despite the fact that he was told by the Court at least three times that he should open his mouth, he purposely did not do so because he was waiting for a Senior Advocate. He should have come upfront with the Court and informed the Court that he was waiting for the Senior Advocate instead of indulging in tactics of this kind,” observed the court.
The court also added, “We strongly deprecate tactics of this kind. We do not want advocates to take advantage of a non-physical hearing system when it is working on both sides.”
However, the lawyer, during his oath, has made a submission that he did not engage any senior lawyer. Subsequently, the court has ordered expungement of the remarks.
The court said, “Mr. Anukul Raj, learned Advocate has stated on oath that he did not engage any Senior Advocate on the date of hearing of the Special Leave Petition. Since this is the case, we modify our order dated 25.08.2020. The order on merits survives.”
