New Delhi: The Karnataka high court on Monday, February 15, made it clear that it was illegal on the part of bar associations to pass resolutions that prevent lawyers from representing anyone in need of legal help, Bar and Bench has reported.The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Tumakuru-based advocate L. Ramesh Naik challenging the resolution of a Mysuru-based lawyers’ forum that puts a bar on its members from representing Nalini Balakumar, who had been charged with sedition for allegedly holding a ‘Free Kashmir’ placard on January 8, 2020 during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Mysuru University.Coming down heavily on the lawyers’ forum, Justices Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S.S. Magadum on Monday said,”If a bar association is passing illegal resolution, we cannot be a mute spectator.”Following the incident at the Mysuru University, lawyers representing Mysore City Advocates Multipurpose Cooperative Society had passed a resolution in January 2020 stating that its members cannot file a vakalat and represent Balakumar in the court.“This is against Section 6 of the Advocates Act. Though it was brought to the notice of the Karnataka State Bar Council, no action was taken,” petitioner Naik had said in his petition, according to a New Indian Express report.Also read: When It Comes to Curbing Dissent, Karnataka Is Going the UP WayResponding to this, the division bench of Justices Oka and Magadum asked if such a resolution was not illegal, and asked the Karnataka State Bar Council to take action.The Mysuru Bar Association, represented by advocate Basavaraj S Sappanavar, said it had nothing to do with the resolution in question, and added that the members of the Mysuru Bar Association had, in fact, represented the accused person in the court.Sappanavar clarified that the said resolution was passed by Mysore City Advocates Multipurpose Cooperative Society, and not the Mysuru Bar Association. He sought time to clarify whether the said society is occupying any part of the premises allotted to the Mysuru Bar Association.The Karnataka State Bar Council also sought time to see if action can be initiated against the advocates who passed the resolution, denying legal aid to an accused. The next hearing in the matter was adjourned to March 5.According to a report by Sukanya Shanta published on The Wire on February 28, 2020 dramatic scenes were witnessed at a Mysore courtroom when lawyers representing Nalini Balakumar faced hostility from those opposed to her getting legal aid.“It was quite a spectacle when a group of 170 lawyers from different districts of Karnataka reached Mysore court last month [January 2020] to defend just one person [Nalini Balakumar]. [In an] unprecedented move of a large bunch of senior and young lawyers from Bengaluru, Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Davanagere [reached Mysore] to stand in court in support of Balakumar. They said it was a collective act of defiance and an assertion of the right to practice law freely. This act of solidarity by the 170 lawyers in one court was also a response to the unconstitutional but common practice that has plagued the courts of Karnataka.”