High Court judge RK Nathan this morning abruptly adjourned a hearing involving a suit against the Bar Council and two other parties upon realising that the defendants were not present in court.

"I'm adjourning the case to 2.15pm and I want the litigants to be present. This is total disrespect of the court. They are interested parties; they should be present. This involves the whole Bar," said the visibly angered judge.

"(They're) litigants, it's (their) duty to be here. This means that they just couldn't care less about the hearing," he added.

The defendants were also absent at yesterday's hearing ([#1] Bar should prove allegations first, argues lawyer[/#] , Sept 27).

When the hearing resumed at 2.15pm, RR Chelvarajah was present on behalf of the three defendants.

Lawyer DP Vijandran who is representing lawyer K Raja Segaran in the suit filed against the Bar Council, its immediate former chairman Chelvarajah and the Malaysian Bar with regard to an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) scheduled for Nov 20 last year, later continued his submission.

He told the court that the Bar Council should at least be aware that they cannot express their views on matters affecting the judiciary, other than if they are specifically requested to do so by the government.

"Since this was with the full knowledge of the Bar Council, they were wilfully going against the provisions of the Legal Profession Act," Vijandran said.

He added that the resolution was also a contravention of the foundation of the Rule of Law.

"It shows a high level of arrogance about being hypocritical of what they are doing," he said.

Raja Segaran is seeking a permanent injunction to restrain the council from holding the EGM or any further meetings which constitute contempt of court.

Raja Sekaran raised a preliminary issue as to whether a proposed resolution dated Oct 12 last year and the proposed EGM were ultra vires the powers and objects of the Malaysian Bar under the Legal Profession Act (LPA) 1976.

The three defendants were represented by Malik Imtiaz, Dhinesh Baskaran and G Rajasingham.

The hearing was adjourned to tomorrow morning.