STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: The ongoing agitation of lawyers practicing in Jammu wing of J&K High Court and Subordinate Courts, demanding open entry in courts completed 75 days. On Tuesday, the Lawyers held a Dharna in Janipura Court complex. The lawyers Action Committee has been carrying ahead the agitation since October 15, 2020 in protest against continuation of suspension of normal functioning of High Court and Subordinate Courts since March 2020 and few other issues.
The 8-point demand charter of lawyers included, opening of all courts for physical entry to lawyers and public, resume physical hearing, accepting hard copies of cases, opening locked Bar Rooms of lawyers, providing stamp papers and tickets within court premises through stamp vendors, immediate opening of Consumer Courts, shifting back Registry of Documents to Judicial Officers, withdrawing contempt initiated against some lawyers and Holding immediate election to the J&K Bar Council.
The protest was attended by advocates A K Sawhney (former President Jammu Bar), J A Kazmi (former vice president), H C Jalmeria Convener of Action Committee, M P Gupta (former Secretary Jammu Bar), R S Kotwal, Vinod Abrol, C S Gupta (Former Secretary Jammu Bar), B R Sharma (Former Vice President Jammu Bar), S S Chib, Inderjit Abrol, Mohd U Salaria (former vice president Jammu Bar), Rajinder Kumar Chanyal, Subodh Singh Jamwal, Shah Mohd Choudhary, R S Lalotra, J P Sharma, Manohar Gupta, Bansi Lal Sharma, Ashok Misra, Rakesh Khajuria (former secretary Jammu Bar), Waris Gill, Meharban Singh, Kunal Chib, Kuldip Singh Parihar, Umesh Sharma, Kamal Kishor, Arvind Jalmeria, Amit Gupta, Manohar Lal, Surinder Rao, Danish Singh Jamwal, Mulkh Raj, Harish Kaila, Gourab Sharma, Arjun Singh, Raghubir Singh, Nidhi Kaila, S Z Ahmed, Pooja Devi, Sarita, Gagandeep Singh Lucky, Ranjodh Singh, Amit Singh Chib, Randeep Singh and Devinder Kumar
The protesting lawyers expressed anguish over repeated extension of restriction on lawyers and public in High Court and public in lower courts. “It lacks justification now when other fields of human activity including Govt. offices, business, politics and electioneering, marriage gatherings, conducting proceedings of parliament and assemblies, cinema halls, liquor bars, bus and air transport, farmers’ protests etc are going on since lockdown. The virtual mode offered is no alternative to physical hearings in courts. Citizens as well as lawyers are worst affected by continued suspension of normal functioning of High Court and Subordinate Courts for over nine months. The Judiciary, the most important institution of democratic India, is protector of the rights of citizens guaranteed by Constitution and other laws. The citizens approach the judiciary seeking protection of their constitutional and statutory rights through lawyers who have the status of officers of courts. In the present situation the lawyers are disabled in performance of their professional duties,” the lawyers said, urging Govt and Judicial authorities to resolve the issues.
