NEW DELHI, July 25:
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking exemption for lawyers from wearing black coats and gowns in the apex court as well as high courts across the country during summer.
A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and V Ramasubramanian said it cannot entertain the plea under Article 32 and asked the petitioner to approach the Bar Council of India (BCI) with his grievance. The top court also granted liberty to lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi to approach the top court again if the BCI does not act on his plea. The petitioner withdrew the plea and the matter was dismissed as withdrawn. Senior advocate Vikas Singh appeared for the petitioner. The plea has sought a direction to state bar councils to amend their rules and decide the time period when lawyers would be exempted from wearing black coats and gowns depending upon the fact as to when the summer peaks in the particular state. Wearing coats during torrid summer makes it difficult for lawyers to move from one court to another, it said. (PTI)
