HC dismisses petition to include lawyers in essential service providers

The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday dismissed a petition seeking exemption for lawyers and legal service staffers from lockdown restrictions which were imposed

The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday dismissed a petition seeking exemption for lawyers and legal service staffers from lockdown restrictions which were imposed to contain the spread of the disease, and seeking directions to include legal services as essential.

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“In our considered view, no mandatory directions can be issued to the state legislature to include the legal services rendered by advocates into essential services (as contemplated under the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act, 2017),” said the bench of justice SS Shinde and justice Madhav Jamdar, while rejecting a petition filed by advocate Imran Mohammed Salar Shaikh.

Shaikh had moved HC through advocate Kareem Pathan seeking a direction to state authorities to include services rendered by advocates as essential service, and thereby exempt lawyers and their staff from the restrictions imposed in view of nationwide the lockdown.

Shaikh had filed the petition after local police stopped him when he was going to Mumbai sessions court on a bike and imposed a fine of ₹500 for violating restriction on movement.

Advocate Pathan argued that lawyers all over the country were attending courts for hearing of the matters filed by them even during lockdown, and therefore directions were necessary to exempt lawyers and their staff from lockdown restrictions by including the service rendered by lawyers as essential. He also urged the court to strike down the fine imposed on the petitioner by traffic police.

HC, however, expressed its inability to entertain the petition and issue directions saying, “It is within the exclusive domain of the state legislature to legislate as to which services to be included in essential services, keeping in view paramount interest of the community.”

The bench has, however, allowed the petitioner to file a comprehensive representation to the state government raising the issues contained in the petition. It has clarified that the dismissal of the petition shall not be construed by the government as an impediment in deciding the representation filed by the petitioner.