The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Bar Associations of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh on Friday said lawyers will resume work for one day on Monday amid the ongoing agitation against the Legal Aid Defence Counsel System (LADCS) policy.
The committee said this was being done to facilitate a meeting between Bar associations’ representatives and Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Monday.
“In the event of no positive outcome from the meeting, particularly regarding complete rollback of the LADCS policy, the strike will automatically resume from Tuesday,” it said in a statement, adding that the agitation will be shifted to Jantar Mantar in Delhi from August 7 for which necessary permissions had been obtained.
However, JAC said Bar associations can act in accordance to the decision of respective General House of a particular Bar and can choose not to support the agitation, the JAC said.
Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association said normal work will be resumed in high court from Monday.
Earlier, on Thursday, after a meeting with acting high court chief justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra, lawyers had announced that their agitation will end from Monday in view of the meeting arranged by high court between lawyers and the CJI.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, on Thursday, after a meeting with acting high court chief justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra, lawyers had announced that their agitation will end from Monday in view of the meeting arranged by high court between lawyers and the CJI.
{{/usCountry}}The policy, notified by the National Legal Services Authority in 2022, is aimed at giving access to justice to accused individuals who cannot afford to engage lawyers. For a month now, judicial work has been suspended in some courts of Punjab and Haryana. The high court had intervened on July 20, acting on a PIL by a lawyer, and hoped that “wiser heads will prevail” and the issue will be resolved amicably without judicial intervention. However, despite three hearings, the deadlock did not end.
JAC argues the policy is against lawyers and also detrimental to litigants. Both prosecutor and defence counsels are being appointed by government. They are appointed by courts at any stage of trials, they say, adding that due to this, quality of work is getting affected.