New Delhi, Nov. 28 -- Lawyers striking work and impeding courts from hearing cases deserve no protection of the profession and should be arrested for the misdemeanour, the Supreme Court observed on Monday, directing the Odisha government to takes all necessary steps, including the power of preventive arrest, to ensure judicial works are not disrupted in the state due to advocates' protests.

"When you (lawyers) obstruct the course of justice, you lose the respect and privilege of being the members of the bar...If you don't want to work, leave the profession. Court work can't stop, that's all," said a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and AS Oka, as it took strong exception to bar associations of several districts preventing judicial of...