The law practitioners across the State observed the Lawyers Day to celebrate the birth anniversary of legendary lawyer Utkalgaurab Madhusudan Das on April 28. Das was the first Odia law graduate, a legal luminary and a source of inspiration for lawyers in the State. But for the first time, the function was organised in a simple manner due to the nationwide lockdown.
The lawyers congregated to celebrate the birth anniversary of the legend by observing the social distancing forms of the Covide-19. Though there was a simile on the faces of the lawyers, but the simile was coupled with untold sorrow.
The legal profession is a noble profession and the lawyer provides assistance to the needy persons so that the rule of law may be maintained in the country. A lawyer is not a salary holder like the bureaucrats; he maintains his livelihood by diffusing his legal skill. But this noble profession of lawyer has reached the most worst stage in Odisha , as the Covid-19 lockdown led many lawyers to lose their income.
While they were trying to recuperate from the financial hardship following a lengthy strike for establishment of the Orissa High Court bench and also in protest against the police atrocity to a lawyer of the HC but this sudden Covid-19 lockdown spoiled the whole.
Some lawyers are finding it nearly impossible to make their ends meet and have no other ostensible means of livelihood to sustain themselves and their families. When some lawyers group of different bar associations of the State requested the Bar Council of Odisha for financial assistance from the Advocates Welfare Funds Trust to the needy lawyers , the council put its two hands up stating that the fund is earmarked only for the retirement benefits and the death of its members but not for any other purpose.
Later, the Bar Council wrote a letter to all bar associations of the State urging the lawyers to contribute some finical assistance for the sake of indigenous and needy lawyers.
The Bar Council of India had written a letter to the Prime Minister and all the Chief Ministers to provide a minimum subsistence allowance of Rs 20,000 per month for young and needy lawyers for survival but to the utter dismay it is not materialised till date in our State. Our State Government has announced different financial packages to those who are grappling under the unprecedented lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic but the lawyers are not in its ambit. The Government is showing step-motherly attitude towards the lawyers.
Considering the genuine demands of the lawyers the State Governments of Delhi and Telangana have created lawyers welfare fund of Rs 50 crore and Rs 100 crore respectively, the Andhra Pradesh Government has paid stipend of Rs 5,000 to each junior lawyer under the YSR Law Nestham Scheme. But in our State, lawyer seems to be superfluous for the Government as their demands are ignored.
