SC ruling banning lawyer strikes: BCI calls for nationwide protest
TIMES NEWS NETWORK 10.09.2018
Chennai:
Lawyers across the country are up in arms against the recent Supreme Court judgment restraining Bar Associations from giving calls for strike, boycott or abstention of court proceedings in any event.
The top regulatory body of advocates, the Bar Council of India (BCI), has called for a nationwide demonstration condemning the move to ‘throttle their democratic rights’ in October at New Delhi.
It is not only the judgment — dated March 28 — that bothers the legal fraternity, but also the move made by the Union government to ‘take away the powers of Bar Councils over legal education’ by introducing the draft bill of the higher education commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act), 2018.
This apart, a communication issued by the Union ministry of law, dated June 7, to the BCI asking for a consolidated report on strikes, abstaining from work by advocates/ bar associations, the loss caused and action proposed for the quarter from January to March 2018 has irked the legal fraternity.
In the four page detailed communication dated September 5, issued to all the state bar councils, the BCI has asked all the bar associations of the country to conduct an awareness drive on September 17 to drive home the point that such judgments are passed ‘to shut mouth of the leaders of lawyers and to directly or indirectly help the government in passing anti-lawyers legislatures such as the Draft Bill of Higher Education Commission of India to override the provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961’.
“All the bar associations will hold a meeting of the general body therein they would discuss threadbare, what is the purport, what is the consequences of the judgment wherein not only the leader of the bar rather every member of the bar is going to be affected,” the communication said.
There will also be a nationwide agitation beginning from the Supreme Court to the Parliament which will be held in October. “The date will be decided later, but we are going to hold a demonstration in Delhi,” the letter said.
The BCI has also resolved to demand the abolishment of Section 34 of the Advocate Act, which empowers the high courts to frame rules regarding the condition on which a person can practice in the high courts and subordinate courts.
Times View
Unfortunate. That best describes the Bar Council of India’s instigation of lawyers across the country to assemble in Delhi and take out a rally to the Supreme Court or the Parliament. If the Centre’s proposal to assume jurisdiction over legal education is the reason, bar leaders must move courts for remedy — just as they would advise their clients hit by state policy.
The pathetic standard of legal education, in fact, offers decent justification for the Centre to strip the BCI of its say over law syllabi and colleges. If the apex court’s recent ruling totally outlawing strikes and boycotts is the reason, then the BCI should welcome it instead of planning a siege on the constitutional seats such as the Supreme Court or the Parliament. Call for ban on post-retirement posts for judges looks motivated, given the timing of the demand. The Centre should deem the siege threat as a misadventure and tackle it with an iron hand.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK 10.09.2018
Chennai:
Lawyers across the country are up in arms against the recent Supreme Court judgment restraining Bar Associations from giving calls for strike, boycott or abstention of court proceedings in any event.
The top regulatory body of advocates, the Bar Council of India (BCI), has called for a nationwide demonstration condemning the move to ‘throttle their democratic rights’ in October at New Delhi.
It is not only the judgment — dated March 28 — that bothers the legal fraternity, but also the move made by the Union government to ‘take away the powers of Bar Councils over legal education’ by introducing the draft bill of the higher education commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act), 2018.
This apart, a communication issued by the Union ministry of law, dated June 7, to the BCI asking for a consolidated report on strikes, abstaining from work by advocates/ bar associations, the loss caused and action proposed for the quarter from January to March 2018 has irked the legal fraternity.
In the four page detailed communication dated September 5, issued to all the state bar councils, the BCI has asked all the bar associations of the country to conduct an awareness drive on September 17 to drive home the point that such judgments are passed ‘to shut mouth of the leaders of lawyers and to directly or indirectly help the government in passing anti-lawyers legislatures such as the Draft Bill of Higher Education Commission of India to override the provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961’.
“All the bar associations will hold a meeting of the general body therein they would discuss threadbare, what is the purport, what is the consequences of the judgment wherein not only the leader of the bar rather every member of the bar is going to be affected,” the communication said.
There will also be a nationwide agitation beginning from the Supreme Court to the Parliament which will be held in October. “The date will be decided later, but we are going to hold a demonstration in Delhi,” the letter said.
The BCI has also resolved to demand the abolishment of Section 34 of the Advocate Act, which empowers the high courts to frame rules regarding the condition on which a person can practice in the high courts and subordinate courts.
Times View
Unfortunate. That best describes the Bar Council of India’s instigation of lawyers across the country to assemble in Delhi and take out a rally to the Supreme Court or the Parliament. If the Centre’s proposal to assume jurisdiction over legal education is the reason, bar leaders must move courts for remedy — just as they would advise their clients hit by state policy.
The pathetic standard of legal education, in fact, offers decent justification for the Centre to strip the BCI of its say over law syllabi and colleges. If the apex court’s recent ruling totally outlawing strikes and boycotts is the reason, then the BCI should welcome it instead of planning a siege on the constitutional seats such as the Supreme Court or the Parliament. Call for ban on post-retirement posts for judges looks motivated, given the timing of the demand. The Centre should deem the siege threat as a misadventure and tackle it with an iron hand.
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