Chorus against legal aid policy gets shriller, Bar council backs lawyers

The Punjab and Haryana high court lawyers on Tuesday decided to go on a three-day strike in support of work suspension call given by the different district Bar associations in two states and Chandigarh against the Legal Aid Defence Counsel System (LADCS) policy

The Punjab and Haryana high court lawyers on Tuesday decided to go on a three-day strike in support of work suspension call given by the different district Bar associations in two states and Chandigarh against the Legal Aid Defence Counsel System (LADCS) policy. The move comes even as the high court asserted that disruption of judicial work can’t be permitted,

The policy, notified by the National Legal Services Authority in 2022, is aimed at giving access to justice to those accused persons, who can’t afford to engage lawyers.

“We have reiterated our sentiments to the learned members of the Bar, that denial of access to justice, to the common litigant, would be a failure on the part of the entire justice delivery system, which cannot be permitted,” the acting chief justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra observed while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue in the morning. The lawyers were also apprised of the guidelines issued by the high court on July 27 to district and sessions judges on the implementation of the policy. However, hours after, the Punjab and Haryana high Court Bar Association (PHHCBA) decided to suspend work till July 30 and demanded from Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana (BCPH) that licences of these counsels in two states and Chandigarh be suspended and placed before the general house on July 30. It also resolved the lawyer who has filed PIL before the high court on the issue be issued a show-cause notice.

In the evening, BCPH, a statutory body that regulates lawyers’ entry into legal profession and has nearly 2 lakh members, held a press conference and said that it supports the demand of rollback or changes in the policy. However, did not say anything on the resolution passed by the HC Bar regarding suspension of licenses of legal aid counsels.

Why lawyers are agitating

The policy, notified by the National Legal Services Authority in 2022, is aimed at giving access to justice to those accused persons, who can’t afford to engage lawyers. For nearly 27 days now judicial work is suspended in some courts of Punjab and Haryana. The high court had intervened on the judicial on July 20, acting on the PIL by the lawyer, Arvind Seth and had hoped that issue would be resolved amicably. However, despite three hearings, the deadlock could not be ended.

BCPH member, Karanjit Singh said that Supreme Court has already formed a committee, which has reportedly taken cognisance and is actively reviewing the scheme and the report is awaited.

“..the policy is against the lawyers and also detrimental to litigant also. Both prosecutor and defence counsel are being appointed by government. They are appointed by courts at any stage of trials,” he said, adding that due to this quality of work is getting affected.

“There are instances, where out of eight thousand cases instituted in a particular district in a month, 2,000 were given to a handful of legal aid counsels,” Singh added lamenting that the policy needed review and rollback.

Policy guidelines issued on July 27

*Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, would prepare a jail visit roster of legal aid counsels. Ordinarily judicial officer should refrain from accompanying him at the time of visit

*Only secretary, DLSA, will assign such counsels to those who can’t afford a lawyer

*Such counsels should not be permitted to obtain power of attorney from inmates directly.

*When accused is produced before a magistrate for remand, the court before engaging such counsels would ascertain whether the accused is represented by a lawyer.

*Secretary, DLSA, would be responsible to ensure eligibility conditions of applicants for such counsels.