After receiving no reply from the Centre on whether a lookout circular was issued against a lawyer, the Delhi High court on Tuesday has directed that a senior officer of the Intelligence bureau (IB) should be present in person to give a response. The court of Justice Rajiv Shakdher, which had earlier issued a notice to the MHA seeking its response on the plea, directed that a senior IB officer should be present on the next hearing on May 27 as no lawyer or officer of the government was present in court due to the ongoing strike by Delhi HC lawyers. The court also observed that the lawyers’ strike “was not a holiday” for officials. The court expressed its displeasure as a junior proxy counsel and clerk from the office of the Additional Solicitor General were present and the government had not filed a reply. The court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Mehmood Pracha who has not only sought quashing of the lookout circular allegedly issued against him, but has also sought “disbanding” of IB. He has also sought that a Rs 10 crore penalty be imposed upon IB for the alleged action. [related-post] The petition said Pracha came to know about the circular when he and five other delegates, who were going to Iraq on November 24, 2014, were stopped from boarding their flight and an their passports were endorsed as ‘offloaded’. The six persons were detained for hours at the airport police station, the petition has alleged. The petition has said passports of five others travelling with Pracha were suspended with effect from November 24 by a December 2, 2014 letter. The order was, however, withdrawn by another letter on February 17, 2015, it said. However, during a hearing in March, the Centre was unable to answer the court’s question of whether the lookout circular still existed or had been withdrawn. The delegation, which consisted of members of the Shia Anjuman e Haidari, had intended to travel to Iraq for a proposed humanitarian mission for which they had received support of many volunteers, the petition said.
