Bihar lawyers strike against evening courts enters third day
By IANSThursday, February 17, 2011
PATNA - Thousands of lawyers in Bihar Thursday entered the third day of their week-long strike to protest against evening courts that were introduced in the state in December last year.
Bihar State Bar Council chairman Baleshwar Prasad Sharma said that nearly 80,000 lawyers have joined the strike. The lawyers, including those from the Patna High Court, district courts and sub-divisional courts, are staying away from work.
“Lawyers will abstain from the court from Feb 15 to Feb 21 to protest the launch of evening courts in Bihar,” Sharma said. He said it would not be possible to hold such courts, introduced by Patna High Court, due to lack of infrastructure.
An evening court each has been functional in 30 of Bihar’s 38 districts since Dec 6, 2010.
Sharma said the lawyers’ protest would continue till the high court notification for running evening courts was withdrawn.
Sharma said except for Gujarat, at 10 places, including three in Karnataka, two in Maharashtra and three in Kerala, evening courts had been started with the consent of the respective state bar councils.
