Convenience Of Litigants Weighs More Than Convenience Of Advocates: AP High Court Dismisses Plea Challenging Shifting Of Sessions Court

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has dismissed a writ petition challenging a Government Order that envisaged shifting of the Court of VI Additional District Sessions Court, Machilipatnam to Avanigadda. While it is true that advocates affiliated with the Bar Association in Machilipatnam would now have to travel to Avanigadda, when considering the balance of convenience, we believe the convenience of the litigants would weigh more than that of the advocates.” The Court further observed: “It is not out of place here to mention that the Advocates' profession has been considered to be a noble one, where personal financial interests and convenience are secondary to the main goal of rendering justice to those in need. While we agree with the argument of the learned counsel for the petitioners that the judge-to-population ratio is abysmally low in our country and needs to be increased by expanding the cadre strength of judges at various levels, yet until the desired results are achieved, one cannot ignore the short-term measures that are required, as have been taken in the instant case.” Background The observations were made in a case where the High Court was dealing with a writ petition filed by the Machilipatnam Bar Association challenging a Government Order, issued by the Law Department which ordered the shifting of the Court of VI Additional District Sessions Court from Machilipatnam to Avanigadda along with the cases arising out of the territorial jurisdiction of Avanigadda and the staff attached to the Court. Observations of the High Court The Division Bench noted that the High Court of Andhra Pradesh had taken the decision to shift the said Court from Machilipatnam to Avanigadda after considering the convenience of the litigants who were filing cases at from Machilipatnam, but who otherwise belonged to the seven Mandals of Avanigadda, namely Nagayalanka, Koduru, Avanigadda, Mopidevi, Challapalli, Ghantasala, and Movva.