Lawyers in Maha, Goa protest against Advocates Bill

Judicial work in various courts all over Maharashtra, Goa, Daman, Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli was "nearly paralysed" as majority of lawyers abstained from work today to protest against the proposed Advocates Amendment Bill, 2017.

The call for protest was given by the Bar Council of India.

"Majority lawyers did not attend the court in Maharashtra and Goa and also in the Union territories of Diu, Daman and Dadra Nagar Haveli," said Ashish Deshmukh, member of Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa.

"The protest by lawyers was total and successful," he said.

In the Bombay High Court here and at its Goa bench, judicial work was "crippled" as lawyers did not appear in the court though Judges were present to conduct the proceedings, Deshmukh said.
 

Cases were simply adjourned as lawyers did not appear, he added.

More than 5,000 lawyers owing allegiance to Advocates Association of Western India (AAWI), the oldest and largest body of lawyers in Maharashtra and Goa, abstained from work, though some lawyers belonging to Bombay Bar Association appeared in the courts.

The Bombay Bar Association had left to its members to appear in the court or to join the protest based on a resolution of 2012 which gave them individual choice to decide.

Hearing a petition yesterday, the Bombay High Court had urged lawyers to appear in the courts saying they were responsible professionals.

The general body of AAWI yesterday said in a resolution that it was of the opinion that the amendments proposed in the Advocates Act are "unconstitutional, undemocratic, anti-lawyers and against the interests of the general public".

"The entire legal profession and legal education of the country is in danger because of the proposed bill," the resolution said.

"The regulation and control of legal profession and legal education is proposed to be handed over to non-advocates and lawyers would face disciplinary proceedings before people not linked to legal profession," AAWI resolution said.

"Moreover, in Bar Council of India, persons from other professions, like chartered accountants, architects, doctors, politicians, would dominate and this would take away autonomy, independence and transparency of the council," the AAWI resolution added.