A programme organised by the Delhi Adhivakta Parishad, the lawyers’ unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad (ABAP) affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, on the Delhi High Court premises to mark International Women’s Day has triggered a debate within the legal community on whether court premises should play host to events organised by private bodies and if sitting judges need to participate in them.

The symposium, to be held on March 8, is to celebrate women’s empowerment and speakers would address the issue ‘Legal, Social and Political Justice for Women’.

The event poster shows the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Justice G. Rohini, as chief guest and National Commission for Women Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam as guest of honour.

The former Additional Solicitor-General of India and senior advocate, Indira Jaising, objected to the choice of the High Court as the venue.

“One can have no objection to the Chief Justice being the chief guest on International Women’s Day anywhere else; in fact, that is to be welcomed. But to do so in the High Court is to throw the weight of the court behind this particular organisation. It is not as if the premises of the court can be hired out for a price by anyone, even if it be for a highly laudable purpose,” Ms. Jaising said in an e-mail on Sunday.

A former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was nothing “ per se objectionable” about sitting judges participating in events organised by lawyers’ body as long as they were not “political events.”