Thousands of advocates from Patna High Court on Friday abstained from work to protest lack of seating arrangement inside the court premises. The lawyers later met the Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and apprised him of their problem.
Members of three prominent organizations -- Lawyers Association, Bar Association and Advocates Association -- participated in the protest which bought all judicial activities to a halt in the Patna High Court.
“Over 10,000 lawyers participated in the protest and abstained from work today and we hope that the government would soon make suitable seating arrangements for us in the court,” said Yogesh Chandra Verma, senior lawyer and member of Advocate Association.
He said lawyers who have to keep standing or moving throughout the day in the court because they do not have a chair and table to sit and work inside the Court premises. There are about 10,000 lawyers practicing in the Patna High Court but seating arrangements are available for only 3,000, Mukesh Kant, young lawyer of the court told The Hindu .
“The Chief Minister said the state government was committed to ensure seating arrangements to the lawyers,” said Vindhya Keshari Kumar, president of the Advocates Association. The chief minister also called up the chief secretary and asked him to take suitable steps to resolve the advocate’s problem.
The Chief Ssecretary reportedly assured them that the government was ready to provide land and construct building to provide adequate seating arrangement for the advocates.
