Justice (retd) A.P. Shah and Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar at the round table discussion of Alliance for the Right to early childhood development at Constitution club in New Delhi. (Express photo by Ravi Kanojia)

NEARLY NINE years after the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association passed a resolution to dispense with the practice of addressing judges as ‘my lord’ or ‘your lordship’, Justice S Muralidhar, who joined the High Court on March 6 after his transfer from the Delhi High Court, has requested advocates to avoid using such terms while addressing him.

“It is for the information of respected members of the Bar that Dr Justice S Muralidhar has requested that they may try and avoid addressing him as ‘your lordship’ or ‘my lord’…,” read a note attached with the causelist of cases issued for Monday by the High Court.

This is not the first time Justice Muralidhar has made such a request to lawyers. The judge had made a similar request at the Delhi High Court in March 2009. According to a Delhi Newsline report dated March 17 that year, the note requesting the lawyers to avoid use of the two terms was also positioned ahead of the list of cases scheduled for hearing that day. The report quoting official sources also states that Justice Muralidhar had started the campaign much before 2009.

In April 2011, the High Court Bar Association in Chandigarh had asked its members to not use ‘my lord’ or ‘your lordship’ and prefer addressing the judges as ‘sir’ or ‘your honour’. However, many lawyers have continued with what are called ‘relics of the colonial past’.

In 2006, the Bar Council of India had adopted a resolution to do away with such ‘relics’.