More on the Public interest complaint about lunch arrangements for lawyers in the Delhi High court - from General Electric whistleblower Seema Sapra - Writ Petition (Civil) 1280/ 2012 - in the matter of Seema Sapra v. General

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <seema.sapra@googlemail.com>
Date: Thu, May 1, 2014 at 3:24 PM
Subject: More on the Public interest complaint about lunch
arrangements for lawyers in the Delhi High court - from General
Electric whistleblower Seema Sapra - Writ Petition (Civil) 1280/ 2012
- in the matter of Seema Sapra v. General
To: Sapra <seemasapra@hotmail.com>, Seema Sapra <seema.sapra@googlemail.com>
Cc: Rajiv Khosla <advrajivkhosla@gmail.com>, Jatan Singh
<jatan_singh@yahoo.com>, Abhijat Bal <abhijat.bal@gmail.com>, Ashutosh
lohia <lasutosh@gmail.com>, Vikram Singh Panwar
<vikrampanwar2010@gmail.com>, Anoop Bagai <anoopbagai@gmail.com>,
ashok.bhasin@yahoo.co.in, Aruna Tiku <arunatikuadvocate@yahoo.com>,
Sunil Mittal <sunilmittaladvocate@gmail.com>, Meghna Mittal Sankhla
<meghna@sankhla.in>, kadambari@ucolindia.com, Amit Sharma with khosla
<advocateas@gmail.com>, Laxmi Chauhan <laxmichauhanmalhan@gmail.com>,
Pankaj Kapoor <lawyerpankaj@gmail.com>, "rg.dhc@nic.in"
<rg.dhc@nic.in>, Bhim Sain Bassi <cp.bsbassi@nic.in>,
"sho-tilakmarg-dl@nic.in" <sho-tilakmarg-dl@nic.in>,
"dcp-newdelhi-dl@nic.in" <dcp-newdelhi-dl@nic.in>,
"dcp-central-dl@nic.in" <dcp-central-dl@nic.in>, director@aiims.ac.in,
cp.ggn@hry.nic.in, jtcp.ggn@hry.nic.in, dcphq.ggn@hry.nic.in,
"supremecourt@nic.in" <supremecourt@nic.in>, secy-mines@nic.in,
cvo@airindia.in, sundari@airindia.in, Ashutosh.Dumbare@airindia.in


I describe the modus operandi used to reserve tables for groups in the
DHC Canteen.

At around 1 pm, DHCBA staff arrive at their designated tables and
stake a claim to the table by laying plates, tiffin boxes etc on it.
These DHCBA staff have instructions to prevent and discourage
non-group lawyers from sitting at these tables. At the same time,
canteen waiters on standing instructions leave this area and stop
serving canteen food to "ordinary" lawyers who might sit on reserved
tables.

Once the group arrives, the DHCBA staff serves them, removes used
plates etc, provides cutlery, provides hand sanitisers etc. The groups
continue to occupy the reserved tables even after finishing their food
and then follow it up with conversation. They usually vacate these
reserved tables only after 2:15 pm.

Meanwhile ordinary lawyers keep standing and waiting for seats on the
left and less elite side of the canteen where there is less
reservation.

Several lawyers including senior and older lawyers often leave the
canteen without eating lunch because they cannot find a seat.

I have observed Meera Bhatia tell two ordinary lawyers to vacate a
reserved table and to move to the clerks section because "no one would
serve them" on the reserved table.

Today, I saw that only 3 persons were eating at Kirti Uppal's reserved
table and these 3 persons were being served by 3 DHCBA staff. One
DHCBA staff was killing flies at this table using a racket. There were
seats for 4 persons vacant at this table but ordinary lawyers could
not sit there because the table was "reserved".

Amit Chadha (designated senior advocate) appears to believe that the
corner table he has lunch on is "his" table by right.

This practice of reservation is not official but an informal
abberration which must end.

Facilities for lunch for lawyers must also be increased by provision
of additional canteens/ cafeterias.

Seema Sapra

Sent on my BlackBerry® from Vodafone

-----Original Message-----
From: seema.sapra@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 1 May 2014 08:40:09
To: Sapra<seemasapra@hotmail.com>; Seema Sapra<seema.sapra@googlemail.com>
Reply-To: seema.sapra@gmail.com
Cc: Rajiv Khosla<advrajivkhosla@gmail.com>; Jatan
Singh<jatan_singh@yahoo.com>; Abhijat Bal<abhijat.bal@gmail.com>;
Ashutosh lohia<lasutosh@gmail.com>; Vikram Singh
Panwar<vikrampanwar2010@gmail.com>; Anoop Bagai<anoopbagai@gmail.com>;
<ashok.bhasin@yahoo.co.in>; Aruna Tiku<arunatikuadvocate@yahoo.com>;
Sunil Mittal<sunilmittaladvocate@gmail.com>; Meghna Mittal
Sankhla<meghna@sankhla.in>; <kadambari@ucolindia.com>; Amit Sharma
with khosla<advocateas@gmail.com>; Laxmi
Chauhan<laxmichauhanmalhan@gmail.com>; Pankaj
Kapoor<lawyerpankaj@gmail.com>; rg.dhc@nic.in<rg.dhc@nic.in>; Bhim
Sain Bassi<cp.bsbassi@nic.in>;
sho-tilakmarg-dl@nic.in<sho-tilakmarg-dl@nic.in>;
dcp-newdelhi-dl@nic.in<dcp-newdelhi-dl@nic.in>;
dcp-central-dl@nic.in<dcp-central-dl@nic.in>; <director@aiims.ac.in>;
<cp.ggn@hry.nic.in>; <jtcp.ggn@hry.nic.in>; <dcphq.ggn@hry.nic.in>;
supremecourt@nic.in<supremecourt@nic.in>; <secy-mines@nic.in>;
<cvo@airindia.in>; <sundari@airindia.in>;
<Ashutosh.Dumbare@airindia.in>
Subject: Public interest complaint about lunch arrangements for
lawyers in the Delhi High court - from General Electric whistleblower
Seema Sapra - Writ Petition (Civil) 1280/ 2012 - in the matter of
Seema Sapra v. General

I have recorded three videos today.

One of "elite" and "insider" lawyers eating in luxury on reserved
tables in the DHC cafeteria, being served by bar staff.

Second of "ordinary" lawyers eating in the 42 degrees heat in the open
air glass canteen where 5 fans out of 20 were working today.

Third of "ordinary" lawyers eating standing up in the heat at the
outside stalls next to a toilet amid a lot of garbage.

Most of the elite lawyers have chambers, but they reserve tables in
the canteen and sit there like at a club for one hour while other
lawyers leave or omit lunch because they cannot find a table.

I will be circulating these videos among the Bar.

The practice of reserving tables in the DHC canteen must end. Such
reservation does not happen in the Supreme Court.

Seema Sapra
Sent on my BlackBerry® from Vodafone