Punjab and Haryana High Court. (Express file photo by Jasbir Malhi) In a note addressed to members of the Bar Association, Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has requested lawyers to avoid using the terms ‘Your Lordship’ or ‘My Lord’ while addressing him.
The note by Justice Tyagi read: “It is for the information of the respected members of the Bar that Hon’ble Mr. Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi has requested that respected members of the Bar may avoid addressing him as ‘Your Lordship’ or ‘My Lord’ and also saying obliged and grateful. All concerned to note please.”
Prior to this, Justice Tyagi had in March, 2021 too requested advocates not to address him as “Your Lordship” or “My Lord”.
The then Chief Justice of India, Justice H L Dattu, in 2014, had made it clear that addressing the judges as ‘Your Lordship’ was not mandatory.
“When did we say it is compulsory? You can only call us in a dignified manner. Don’t address us as ‘lordship’. We don’t say anything. We only say address us respectfully,” Justice Dattu had asserted.
Also as per reports, Justice P Krishna Bhat of the Karnataka High Court in April this year had put up a note requesting advocates to avoid addressing court with honorifics as ‘My Lord’ or ‘Your Lordship’.
The note read that members of the Bar are requested to adhere to a practise consistent with dignity of court which is more important in Indian circumstances like ‘sir’.
Even the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association in 2011 had passed a resolution to address the judges as “sir” instead of “My Lord”.
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