3 Nov 2023 10:05 AM GMT
Justice PS Narasimha, judge of the Supreme Court, recently expressed displeasure at being repeatedly addressed as "Your Lordship" and "My Lord".
“How many times you will say 'My Lords'? If you stop saying this, then I will give you half of my salary,” Justice PS Narasimha told a lawyer during a hearing, reported the PTI. “Why don't you use 'Sir' instead?,” the judge asked the lawyer.
Though several judges have openly discouraged the practice of using these terms, which are of colonial origin, lawyer continue to use them out of habit.
Way back in 2006, the Bar Council of India had passed a resolution prohibiting the usage of such terms stating such usage was a relic of the colonial past.
Requests By Individual Judges Not To Use 'My Lord' And 'Your Lordship'
Way back in 2008, Justices S Ravindra Bhat and S Muralidhar, who were then judges of the Delhi High Court, urged lawyers to not use these terms to address the judges.
Justice K. Chandru of Madras High Court had in 2009 asked the lawyers to refrain from using 'My Lord'. Justice S Muralidhar, when he became the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, formally requested the lawyers that they may try and avoid addressing him as 'your lordship' or 'my lord',". Justice Thottathil B. Nair Radhakrishnan, as the Chief Justice of the Calcutta Hourt, also addressed a letter to the officers of district judiciary including members of Registry, expressing his desire to be addressed as "Sir" instead of "My Lord" or "Lordship".
In 2019, Rajasthan High Court issued a notice requesting lawyers and those appearing before the judges to desist from addressing the Hon'ble Judges as "My Lord" and "Your Lordship". The notice was issued following a unanimous resolution taken by the Full Court in a meeting held on 14th July. Such move was taken "to honor the mandate of equality enshrined in the Constitution of India".