The Bar association building on the premises of Ranchi Civil Courts will once again reopen after more than seven months from October 27. The Bar association has decided to reopen both the new and old buildings with all safety and precautionary measures to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
The Bar association has decided to reopen the bar buildings on lawyers’ demand, but in the initial phase only lawyers will be admitted.
As the corona threat is still prevalent, clients will not be allowed to enter the Bar buildings. Also lawyers’ assistants (Munshi) and stamp vendors will be prohibited from entering the premises initially.
The entrance gate of the new building of the Bar association facing the Civil Court side will open. The lawyers have welcomed the decision to reopen Bar association buildings.
The lawyers who were facing difficulties in getting proper sitting arrangements were demanding for reopening the Bar association buildings. Advocate Sanjay Kumar Vidrohi said, "We have been demanding reopening of Bar association buildings for long as lawyers were facing difficulties in getting proper sitting arrangements."
Vidrohi further said, "Though the Bar association has decided to reopen the Bar buildings, unless and until regular courts are not opened it will have little effect. As physical courts are closed for more than six months the lawyers are facing difficult times as virtual courts have not been much effective."
He said the number of cases heard at virtual courts is much less than physical courts.
Vidrohi claimed that with virtual courts, large numbers of lawyers are not benefitted.
The Jharkhand State Bar Association has sought feedback from the district bar association regarding reopening of virtual courts. The Jharkhand Bar association based on district bar associations’ feedback after getting consent from Jharkhand High Court chief justice will take a final decision on reopening of physical courts.
Courts including the High Court are closed since March 25 the day on which Centre announced lockdown to check the spread of corona pandemic.
Due to closure of courts for more than six months, the lawyers are facing financial crunch. The Jharkhand Bar association has taken several measures to look into lawyers financial problems such as providing financial assistance to poor lawyers, but all these steps have failed to address lawyers’ problem.