Journo-lawyer stand off: AG-headed committee to be formed

A committee chaired by Advocate General would be formed to resolve the stand off between journalists and advocates, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today said.
The move came in the wake of the recent stand off between journalists and advocates at the High Court premises here and at the district court campus in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
After attending a conciliatory talks with the representatives of journalists and advocates here, Vijayan urged both the groups to consider the incident between them as a "closed chapter" and ensure not to repeat the same.
He said the judicial probe, already recommended into the recent tiff off between the journalists and advocates at the High Court, would be held.

"The conciliatory talks decided to set up a committee headed by Advocate General to resolve the present issues. It will comprise three representatives each of the Bar Council and the Journalist Union," Vijayan told reporters here.
Stating that there had been a cordial relation between the journalists and lawyers in the state, he said the present developments were not giving anything to take pride for both the group.

However, Vijayan declined to intervene into the issue of the closure of the media room at the High Court campus here following the incident.
"The government can not intervene into the matters within the High Court. It is the High Court Chief Justice to take a decision in this regard," he said.

A section of lawyers had gone on rampage in the district court complex in Thiruvananthapuram and pelted stones and empty beer bottles at the journalists who had gone to cover a court case on Thursday.
The incident was a sequel to the tiff off between journalists and lawyers of Kerala High Court in Kochi over the media coverage of the case of an alleged bid by a government pleader to molest a woman in the city on July 19.
(Reopens MDS5)
Meanwhile, Kerala Governor and former Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam said lawyers and journalists discharge two noble functions which help to keep a democracy alive and society holds high expectations on their roles and duties.

"I am happy that the timely intervention of the Supreme Court, the High Court of Kerala and the state government has expedited an amicable solution to the present stand off," he said.