Lawyer to return his enrolment to President

Madurai-based advocate V.S. Balakrishnan (66) has decided to return his lawyers’ robes and the enrolment certificate to the President of India as a mark of protest demanding the unconditional withdrawal of the recent amendments made to the rules of Advocates Act by the Madras High Court.

He said that he had decided to stop his career spanning four decades until the Madras High Court completely withdrew the amendments.

“The recent amendments are detrimental to the functioning of advocates and give sweeping powers to judicial officers to take action against lawyers arbitrarily. Boycott by a large number of advocates against the amendments is already under way. This is my ‘individual satyagraha’,” Mr. Balakrishnan told the media here.

Handing out a booklet, which he had earlier sent to the President, Mr. Balakrishnan said that it explained how he was personally affected by unfair allegations made by a judicial officer many years ago.

“It took 10 years for me to prove my innocence legally when everyone knew that I was not at fault,” he said. “When such things could happen before the introduction of these amendments, the situation could get a lot worse now,” he said.

Mr. Balakrishnan said, “The President is the protector of the Constitution. As the recent amendments violate the fundamental rights of advocates, I want him to intervene.”