High CourtsDivision Bench(1912) 09 MAD CK 0003

Ravinuthala Venkatappiah vs The Secretary of State for India in Council

Madras High Court · Decided on 24 September 1912 · Citation: 16 Ind. Cas. 895

HON’BLE JUDGES
Sundar Aiyar, J · Sadasiva Aiyar, J

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Judgment

22 paragraphs · 512 words

Sundara Aiyar, J.—The Government Pleader says that all that the District Munsif intended to do was to warn the petitioner that if he went to

his Court without a summons or order of the Court, he would take steps to have him adjudged a law tout by the District Judge. In my opinion,

such an order ought not to have been passed. If there was any reason to suspect that the petitioner was a tout, it was, no doubt, the duty of the

Munsif to take steps to have him declared a tout. It appears to me to be objectionable to direct that the petitioner should not go to the District

Munsif''s Court, where justice is openly dispensed, without a summons or order. The notice to the petitioner expressly states: ""you are a law tout.

This again is, in my opinion, absolutely without justification. Admittedly, the District Munsif held no inquiry into the matter. In his order, the Munsif

says: ""I see no reason to alter my opinion of the fact of his being a tout, though his Pleader has said that I should make an inquiry. Besides, it is

unnecessary to make any inquiry."" It is, in my opinion, surprising that a District Munsif should refuse to make aid inquiry, and at the same time

express an opinion that the petitioner is a tout, There is, of course, no objection to the District Munsif''s taking steps against any person whom he

suspects to be a tout to have him adjudged a tout according to law.

2.

Having regard to the explanation now given, it is not necessary to pass any further order.

Sadasiva Aiyar, J.

3.

I am of opinion that this matter ought not to have been brought before us acting as a Judicial Bench. The District Munsif did not give any notice

to anybody under the Legal Practitioners Act but merely gave a warning to the petitioner that his conduct in the precincts of the Court was not

proper and that, if he continued to indulge in that course of conduct, steps would be taken under the Legal Practitioners Act. The Munsif might not

have put the warning in as proper a language as we might think that he ought to have used and he might even have used more harsh language in his

warning to the petitioner than was necessary.

4.

But this is a purely departmental matter which the petitioner ought to have brought to the notice of the Munsif''s departmental superiors. There is

no foundation for the petitioner''s treating the matter as judicial order of the Munsif or an order passed under any ""powers given under the Legal

Practitioners Act and for his trying to have it revised as if it were such on order. The difficulty of treating the matter as judicial was felt when the

case was argued as I could not see whether the Government Pleader or the Munsif or the Bar Association or anybody could and ought to be

heard on the other side. I would, therefore, reject this petition as misconceived.