KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, April 25: The majority of over 2,000 advocates under the Jamshedpur Bar Association on Thursday resorted to a pen-down strike in protest against the installation of two gated containers in front of the Bar Building.
The place where the containers have been put used to be a small park which the civil court authority had razed recently, triggering a protest a few days ago.
The idea behind the gated containers, each measuring about 12 ft by 15 ft, brought all along from Gujarat is to facilitate the filing of complaint petitions there only.
Advocates oppose installation of containers at demolished park site
Revealing about the installation of the containers, advocate Ajay Rathore said that the fellow advocates are opposed to the civil court’s move to adopt a new system by installing gated containers, but what they are opposed to is putting the containers at a place where a park used to exist.
“The park which the civil court authority demolished a week ago was set up with the MLA fund. The advocates used to pass quality time. After we came to know about the park demolition, we had met Registrar, Utkarsh Jain who claimed the demolition was carried out following the consent of a group of 10 ad hoc committee members,” said Advocate Rathore while talking to The Jharkhand Story.
Also Read- SC to incorporate WhatsApp for advocate communications on filing and listing
Advocate Rathore who is spearheading the agitation said the Registrar had assured the aggrieved advocates that he would consider the reconstruction of the park at its original site, but despite the assurance two containers were put up at the site of the demolished park instead.
Advocate Rathore pointed out there is enough space for installing the containers on the civil court premises and the civil court authority may select a suitable place there.
Advocates urge for AGM to address container placement, threaten agitation
“We have today submitted a joint petition with the ad hoc committee, urging it to call an AGM (Annual General Meeting) on Friday for discussion over the issue of removal of the containers from the demolished park site and reconstruction of the park. If the ad hoc committee fails to convene the AGM tomorrow, then the advocates will resort to intensifying the agitation,” said Advocate Rathore.
According to the advocate, the two containers were brought inside the sprawling civil court premises at Bhuiyandih in the Sitaramdera area at about 4 pm on Wednesday. When the two containers were being put at the demolished park site, a few advocates were present there despite it being a morning court.
Advocate Rathore said the advocates present there had opposed the act of putting the containers there last evening, but when the bulk of the advocates came to the Bar this morning got agitated to see the containers at the park site and had immediately resorted to the pen-down strike.
A large number of litigants had to face an embarrassing situation as the advocates were on strike.
