Advocates boycott court in Walajah for not whitewashing their chambers

Bar Association members in Walajah boycott court proceedings due to whitewashing delay and proposed taluk-level courts.

Members of the Bar Association in Walajah near Ranipet have been boycotting the proceedings of the District Munsif cum Magistrate Court against the Public Works Department for not whitewashing their chambers. 

K. Elangovan, president, Bar Association (Walajah), said they resorted to the boycott for two reasons - one, for ignoring common advocates’ chamber while doing the painting work and the other was due to the proposal to set up taluk-level courts by bifurcating existing Walajah court.

PWD officials said the whitewash work of the court building was done during every summer based on the request by the court. The main court building has at least 15 rooms including court halls and judges chambers. The advocates chamber is frequented by lawyers for their routine work. As a result, painting work of the chamber was kept as the last task. However, the work got delayed, PWD officials said.

“We depend on advocates for timely hearing of our cases. Such boycott further delays the fast disposal of cases,” said K. Pavankumar, a litigant. Every day, on an average, more than 200 litigants, mostly from Walajah taluk that comprises over 70 villages, visit the court. Around 120 advocates are working as regular practitioners. On an average, over 150 cases come up at the court every day. Currently, 1,500-2,000 cases are pending before the court. 

Among major courts like Ranipet and Arcot, Walajah court is the only facility that has had a sub-jail. It helps to ensure safety of under-trials, who were produced before the court for remand and custody.

Court officials said that earlier, areas like SIPCOT, Ranipet town, Ponnai and Melpadi were bifurcated from Walajah court and were made part of the Additional District Court in Ranipet town a decade ago. Further bifurcation of Walajah court would weaken its functioning.