The Rajasthan High Court has asked the lawyers and litigants to do away with the colonial era practice of addressing judges as ‘My Lord’ or ‘Your Lordship’. In a notification issued on Monday, the High Court Registrar said that judges have made a request to the lawyers and litigants to address them simply as ‘sir’ or ‘srimanji’.
“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’,” the notification reads.
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The resolution to abandon the practice of judges being addressed as ”My Lord” was passed in the first Full Court meeting chaired by new Chief Justice S Ravindra Bhatt.
More than a decade ago, the Supreme Court too had ruled that addressing judges as ”My Lord” or ”Your Lordship” was not mandatory and that the judges could simply be addressed as ”sir” as a mark of respect to them.
The legal fraternity welcomed the move. Bar Council of Rajasthan chairman, Chiranji Lal Saini, said: “It is a much-needed move and should have been done long back. It is a step in the direction of humanity.”
