Intensifying their protest against proposed amendment bill 2017 in Advocates Act 1961, lawyers in Jharkhand abstained from court work in the second half on Friday and copies of the Bill were burnt by them in all district headquarters in the State. A delegation of Advocates Association of Jharkhand also met Governor Droupadi Murmu and handed over a memorandum requesting her to convey their message to the concerned authorities.
“The Governor after hearing us patiently for quite some time assured that she will forward our concern to the concerned authorities and also asserted that our agitation was rational,” said Jharkhand High Court Advocates Association General Secretary Hemant Shikarwar. A signature campaign was also launched in the High Court where advocates put down their signatures against the “draconian Act was against Democracy where the whole Act of 1961 has been missed”, he added.
Shikarwar said that the basic objective of the Act of 1961 was to keep advocates independent but they are pushing the lawyers towards slavery.
Shikarwar further added that presently 25 advocates were elected through voting in State Bar Council but according to the proposed amendment there will be 21 members in it out of which only 10 advocates will be elected through voting while other five will be nominated by Jharkhand High Court and rest of the six members will be nominated by the State Government from different fields like medical practitioners, bureaucrats, politicians, chartered accountants etc.
“The proposed amendment also enforces harsh conduct from the advocates and make them liable to be referred to the disciplinary committee even for arguing in the court loudly or for dirty collar of his shirt, which could not be tolerated at any cost,” said the Advocate’s Association General Secretary. The compensation provisions are also quite harmful and against the interest of advocates, added Shikarwar.
Similar protests were also witnessed in civil courts of all 24 districts in the State including Ranchi Civil Court where the bill was opposed in an unprecedented way took part by more than 700 lawyers.
“We demand immediate removal of law Commission Chairman BS Chauhan and putting any lawyer on his place who will at least think about the interest of the lawyers,” said General Secretary of Ranchi District Bar Association Sanjay Vidrohi. A demand has been raised to put the entire proposed bill into the garbage as it is against the advocates, he added.
There are more than 85000 registered advocates in Jharkhand High Court and civil courts of all 24 districts in State who were on strike on Thursday.