In a marked departure from one of the long-standing colonial traditions that continue to characterise the Indian Judiciary, the Full Court of the Rajasthan High Court has resolved to do away with the practice of referring to judges as "My Lord" and "Your Lordship".
Following a Full Court meeting held on Sunday, a notification has been issued by the Rajasthan High Court Registrar General today, stating the following:
"To honour the mandate of equality enshrined in the Constitution of India, the Full Court in its meeting dated 14.07.2019 has unanimously resolved to request the counsels and those who appear before the Court to desist from addressing the Hon’ble Judges as ‘My Lord’ and ‘Your Lordship’."
It may be noted that the current Bar Council of India (BCI) rules also do not mandate the use of "My Lord" and "Your Lordship" when it comes to addressing the members of the Bench. In this regard, Chapter III A of Part VI of the BCI Rules lays down the following when it comes to the manner in which the Court must be addressed:
"Consistent with the obligation of the Bar to show a respectful attitude towards the Court and bearing in mind the dignity of Judicial Office, the form of address to be adopted whether in the Supreme Court, High Courts or Subordinate Courts should be as follows: “Your Honour” or “Hon'ble Court” in Supreme Court & High Courts and in the Subordinate Courts and Tribunals it is open to the Lawyers to address the Court as “Sir” or the equivalent word in respective regional languages."
Notably, an explanation to this provision specifically refers to the usage of "Lord" and "Lordship" as relics of the colonial pasts.
"EXPLANATION: As the words “My Lord” and “Your Lordship” are relics of Colonial post, it is proposed to incorporate the above rule showing respectful attitude to the Court."
A similar observation was made by the Supreme Court itself back in 2014. A PIL moved by an advocate, Shiv Sagar Tiwari to do away with the practice of addressing judges as “Your Lordship” and “My Lord”, had prompted a Bench of Justices HL Dattu and SA Bobde to point out that it was not compulsory to address the Court as "My Lord", "Your Lordship" or even "Your Honour”.
While dismissing the PIL, the Bench said,
"When did we say it is compulsory? You can only call us in a dignified manner.... "How can this negative prayer be accepted by us? Don't address us as “lordship”. We don't say anything. We only say address us respectfully."
The topic briefly propped up during court proceedings in the Madras High Court last year as well. While cautioning a litigant - who had appeared in person to argue his case - to address the Court respectfully, a Madras High Court judge orally observed,
"You need not address us as 'Your Lordships' either, it is part of the colonial mindset, we also don't like it. Just address us as 'the Court'"
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