April 18, 2026

Calcutta High Court: Lawyers As Brokers

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-03-12 07:28:55

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

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In a deplorable incident, a lawyer from the team of lawyers representing a litigant met Justice Shekhar B Saraf of the Calcutta High Court in his chambers with a 'request' to issue an order in favour of his client. Justice Saraf mentioned the incident in court during the virtual hearing when senior counsel Harish Salve was also present and representing the same litigant on whose behalf the lawyer had approached the judge. Without mentioning the lawyer's name, Justice Saraf recused himself from the case by issuing a one-line order which said "due to circumstances which are quite unfortunate, I release this matter on personal grounds." After the judge mentioned the incident in the court, Harish Salve was also disturbed and announced the he was returning the brief.

It is very unfortunate that some lawyers work as brokers by trying to 'arrange' judgments by 'influencing' judges. This is not to say that there is no corruption in the judiciary and there are regular allegations of judges having been bribed. But judges and senior counsels like Justice Saraf and Harish Salve, by taking prompt action against such incidents, restore the people's faith in the judiciary and the judicial process.

As a logical extension of his reporting the incident, Justice Saraf must now disclose the name of the offending lawyer in proper channels and he must be punished as per law. The Bar Council must also take immediate and appropriate action against him, even before the criminal action. The incident must also be given wide coverage so that others do not have the temerity to approach judges with such 'requests'.