Lawyers at Allahabad HC boycott work to protest against Advocates Amendment Bill

     Lucknow/Prayagraj, Feb 25 (PTI) The functioning of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court and its subordinate courts was affected on Tuesday after lawyers abstained from judicial work to protest against the proposed Advocates (Amendment) Bill among other issues.
     The Oudh Bar Association (OBA) of the high court, Central Bar Association (CBA) of the district court and other local bar associations on Monday decided to abstain from judicial work in various courts.
     In a meeting held under the chairmanship of OBA president RD Shashi, the decision to abstain from work on Tuesday was not only against the proposed amendment but also against the shortage of judges in the high court, slow rotation system of the jurisdiction of the judges and difficulty in listing of cases.
     Meanwhile, CBA general secretary Amresh Pal Singh said that the association joined the strike in solidarity with the UP Bar Council.
     In Prayagraj, lawyers of Allahabad High Court on Tuesday abstained from judicial work on a call given by the High Court Bar Association (HCBA) in protest against the huge number of vacancies of judges in the Allahabad High Court.
     On Tuesday though the judges sat in their respective court but the lawyers did not appear.
     On Monday, in the meeting of the executive council held under the chairmanship of its president Anil Tiwari and conducted by secretary Vikrant Pandey, it was resolved that one demand of HCBA, for which they abstained from work on February 21 regarding amendment in Advocates' Act has been accepted and the proposed amendments have been withdrawn by the central government for the time being.
     However, the second demand regarding the filling of vacant posts of judges of Allahabad High Court remained unfulfilled. Hence as per their earlier resolution, they remained absent from work on Tuesday, February 25.
     As per HCBA, the sanctioned strength of the judges of Allahabad High Court is 160. However, at present, the high court at Allahabad is working on less than half of the sanctioned strength. The number of judges is only 55 judges working in the high court at Allahabad and 23 judges working at its Lucknow Bench.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)