Somewhere in Punjab & Haryana....

The Punjab & Haryana High Court Bar Association has passed a resolution asking its members not to address judges as ‘My Lord’ or ‘your lordship’. With this, it has become the second high court in the country after Kerala HC advocates association passed such a resolution in June 2007. In the resolution passed unanimously by the 4,500-member strong lawyers association, it was decided that in future, the judges should be addressed as ‘sir’ or ‘your honour’. The decision was taken in the general house meeting of the bar. President of the bar association Kulbir Singh Dhaliwal said: “We passed the resolution to endorse the already existing rules framed by the Bar Council of India (BCI) in 2006, that had resolved that the form of address in the Supreme Court and high courts should be ‘your honour’ or ‘honourable court’.” He said because of habit, some lawyers may continue with the old style, but gradually they will get used to the new language. “The bar has received positive response from the judges,” he said.