The Bar Council of India (BCI) on Friday told the Supreme Court that it is proposing to frame rules to curtail strikes by lawyers and to take action against Bar Associations and Advocates who promote such strikes through social media.
New Delhi [India], August 27 : A Bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice MR Shah was informed by the Bar Council of India’s Chairman Senior Advocate Manan Kumar Mishra that it has convened a meeting with all bar councils in this regard. “We propose to frame rules to curb strikes and boycotts and rules to punish members of bar Association who go on strike without proper justification,” Mishra said. “A meeting has been convened by BCI with all Bar councils. BCI proposes to form rules to curtail strikes by advocates, propose action against Bar Associations who act in breach and propose action against advocates who promote strikes on social media,” the Bench noted in the order and adjourned the case for September third week. Last year in February, the apex court took a serious view on the issue of lawyers holding strikes every Saturday for 35 years in Uttarakhand district courts and warned the advocates concerned of contempt action if they persisted with it. The top court had held the strike illegal and asked the BCI and all the State Bar Councils to suggest a further course of action to deal with the problem of strikes, abstaining from work by the lawyers. The apex court took suo motu cognizance of the issue while dismissing an appeal filed by the District Bar Association Dehradun against a judgment of the Uttarakhand High Court which declared the lawyers’ strikes illegal.
