District courts lawyers on indefinite strike from tomorrow

The advocates of all six district courts here would go on an indefinite strike from tomorrow against the delay in passage of an amended Bill in Parliament regarding enhancement of pecuniary jurisdiction of trial courts.
Advocate R K Wadhwa, Chairman of coordination committee of all district courts bar associations, said that lawyers would abstain from work till the passing of bill in the Parliament.
"There will be a complete strike in all the six district courts from tomorrow. We will observe strike till the passage of the bill in Parliament," he said.
Wadhwa further said the lawyers' body would wait for one week from tomorrow for passage of the bill and thereafter intensify their protest.

"We will wait for one week and after that we will intensify the strike further. We have sent representations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, the Union Law Minister, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders on this issue," he said.
Advocate Mahesh Sharma, who is President of Shahdara Bar Association, said their demand was legitimate as pecuniary jurisdiction of Rs 20 lakh for trial courts was very low.

"We are holding indefinite strike from tomorrow. No work will be done in the district courts. No lawyer will appear and only proxy counsel will take dates in the matters," he said.

The strike would be observed in the six district courts -- Patiala House, Tis Hazari, Karkardooma, Rohini, Saket and Dwarka.
The lawyers' body said the full bench of Delhi High Court had recommended to Centre that pecuniary jurisdiction be enhanced from the existing Rs 20 lakh to Rs two crore, but the bill has not yet been passed in the Parliament.
In May this year, the lawyers had called off their 15-day strike after the Rajya Sabha passed the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill to increase pecuniary jurisdiction of the trial courts here.