Whether litigant can disown his advocate at any time and seek relief from court?
statements, made within the limits of authority given to him,
are the acts and statements of the principal i.e. the party who
engaged him. It is true that in certain situations, the Court
may, in the interest of justice, set a side a dismissal order
or an exparte decree notwithstanding the negligence
and/or misdemeanour of the advocate where it finds that
the client was an innocent litigant but there is not such
absolute rule that a party can disown its advocate at any
time and seek relief. No such absolute immunity can be
recognised. Such an absolute rule would make the
working of the system extremely difficult. The
observations made in 'Rafiq' must be understood in the
facts and circumstances of that case and cannot be
understood as an absolute proposition. As we have
mentioned hereinabove, this was an ongoing suit posted
for final hearing after a lapse of seven years of its
institution. It was not a second appeal filed by a villager
residing away from the city, where the Court is located.
The defendant is also not a rustic ignorant villager but a
private limited company with its head office at Calcutta
itself and managed by educated businessmen who know
where their interest lies. It is evident that when their
applications were not disposed of before taking up the suit
for final hewing they felt piqued and refused to appear before
the court. May be, it was part of their delaying tactics as
alleged by the plaintiff. May be not. But one thing is clear
they 'chose to noncooperate with the court. Having
adopted such a stand towards the Court, the defendant
has no right to ask its indulgence. Putting the entire
blame upon the advocate and trying to make it out as if
they were totally unaware of the nature or significance of
the proceedings is a theory which cannot be accepted and
ought not to have been accepted.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MUMBAI
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION NO. 5343 OF 2015
Mehendara P.Shah … Petitioner
Vs.
Gurupreet Kamaljeet and others … Respondents
CORAM : R. G. KETKAR, J.
DATE : 25th JUNE, 2015
Citation;2016(3) ALLMR142
https://www.lawweb.in/2016/05/whether-litigant-can-disown-his.html
