NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Uttar Pradesh government’s response after taking note of a report from the Gautam Buddh Nagar district judge that CCTV cameras on the court’s premises were lying defunct due to the lack of maintenance funds.The top court, which on March 21 took note of the alleged manhandling of senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district court, also made clear that it has taken a dim view of the incident and the fact that the persons responsible have not been identified till now.”We will keep it on next Monday. Even if they (local bar leaders) have apologised, we will take a dim view of this… no lawyer can compel a court (judge) and lawyers to leave the court, we will take it very seriously,” said the bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.The bench, also comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, took note of the report filed by District Judge Amit Saxena that the CCTV cameras, installed on the district court premises there, were dysfunctional and hence the footage of the incident could not be obtained.It issued a notice to the state government through its counsel and senior advocate Garima Prasad.While taking note of the incident, the top court had earlier asked the district judge to preserve the CCTV footage of the incident.On the issue of lawyers restraining colleagues from entering courts, the CJI on Monday said “Protest is not strike. You cannot enter the court and ask the lawyers ‘chalo nikal jao yaha se’ (get out of here). We will take it very seriously.” At the outset, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Adish Agrawal and secretary Rohit Pandey said the local bar leaders have written a letter expressing regret.
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