Today a Seven Judges bench of the Allahabad High Court directed lawyers to resume work or face contempt of court action who have been boycotting courts in Kanpur since 25th March 2023.

The Kanpur Bar Association and the Lawyers' Association of Kanpur had called for the strike after a district judge allegedly misbehaved with lawyers. The lawyers had initially boycotted the court of the District & Sessions Judge, Kanpur Nagar only, but later began abstaining from work in other Kanpur courts.

The seven-judge Bench of Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker and Justices Sunita Agarwal, Surya Prakash Kesarwani, Manoj Kumar Gupta, Anjani Kumar Mishra, Dr. Kaushal Jayendra Thaker and Mahesh Chandra Tripathi also issued notice to members of the Kanpur Bar Association.

The court issued notice to the following office bearers of the Kanpur Bar Association and the Lawyers Association:

Naresh Chandra Tripathi, President, Kanpur Bar Association;

Anurag Srivastava, General Secretary, Kanpur Bar Association;

Ravindra Sharma, President, the Lawyers' Association, Kanpur Nagar; and

Sharad Kumar Shukla, General Secretary, the Lawyers' Association, Kanpur Nagar.

The lawyers have been directed to be present personally before the Court tomorrow at 10:00 AM, when the matter will be heard next.

The court stated in the order that "As an interim measure, it is directed that the lawyers shall resume their work forthwith and to purge the contempt and in case, any hindrance is created by any of the lawyer or office bearers, the same would be viewed seriously".

The Chairman of the State Bar Council has also been called to be present to assist the Court.