New Delhi: Litigants in six district courts had to suffer as the lawyers of the said courts were on strike against the move by the Bar Council of India (BCI) in which it had sent a recommendation to the Law Commission for amendment in the Advocates Act. Lawyers also carried out a protest march from Patiala House courts to the BCI office at DDU Marg.
Speaking to this newspaper, Neeraj Kumar, secretary of New Delhi Bar Association, said that the move by the BCI was against the rights of the advocates. “The BCI had written that lawyers should not go on any kind of strike. It wanted the Law Commission to amend the Advocates Act so that they could not observe strike. It was totally a biased move. Now, we have been assured by the BCI that they would roll back their decision,” said Mr Kumar.
The strike was observed in all six district courts due to which all work was totally paralysed. In few important cases, the proxy counsels were appearing only to take the next date of hearing. He added that they also received the support of the Delhi HC lawyers’ body in their strike.
The decision of the strike was taken in the meeting of the coordination committee of all the district courts bar associations.
“We have also demanded that the Judicial Accountability Bill should be passed in the Parliament for safeguarding the dignity of the legal profession. If this bill is passed, it will stop judicial corruption. The law officials will not misbehave with lawyers. Judges too will be held accountable,” Mr Kumar said.
The decision of the strike was taken in the meeting of the coordination committee of all the district courts bar associations. It was decided in the meeting that the lawyers would abstain from work till their demands are met. The lawyers had decided to intensify the strike further if their demands were not met. Advocate Amit Srivastava said that the recommendation in the Advocates Act was unacceptable. Delhi Bar Association president Santosh Mishra said that the strike was successful.
