Hyderabad, February 2: The Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh which met here on Sunday unanimously resolved to request all the members of the Bar Associations in the State to observe February 4 as Protest Day against the enforcement of amendments to the provisions of Criminal Procedure Code – Act 2008 and 2010 and to oppose the draft Bill of “Legal Practitioners (Regulations and Maintenance of Standards in Professions, protecting the interest of Clients and Promoting the Rule of Law) Act 2010. It also resolved to convene a meeting with the presidents/secretaries, representatives of all the Bar Association in the State on February 20 to discuss about the Bill and also new amendments to Cr.P.C.
In a pressnote here, Mr A Narasimha Reddy, Chairman, Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh, has stated that recently some amendments to Cr.P.C. were brought into force without considering various suggestions given by the Bar Council of India and Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh and also advocate community, which will drastically affect the existing Criminal Jurisprudence in the country.
Mr Reddy stated that the AP Bar Council also opposes the draft Bill on Legal Practitioners proposed by the Union of India, as same is in contravention of the provisions of Advocates’ Act, 1961 and the regulatory body constituted under the Advocates Act, which regulate the professional standards, ethics and also defines their duties in connection with their briefs to the court and so on. He also stated that the present draft Bill aims at bringing in its hold, persons who do not have a legal background and acquired the professional qualifications, however, practicing in different quasi judicial forums, he added.
Mr Narsimha Reddy stated that while regulating standards of those persons it is wholly misconceived and unethical to include the advocates on par with them. Since, there is already a regulatory law existing, there is no necessity to dilute the same in the form of the present Bill, he felt, adding that the present Bill with specific reference to Chapter IV, Part II dilutes the role of the Bar Councils constituted under the Advocates Act, 1961. The Bar Councils are empowered to receive complaints from litigant public and pass appropriate orders after a thorough enquiry under the rules. “Therefore, the Bar Council of AP demands exclusion of the Advocates as defined in the Advocates Act of 1961, from the definition of legal professionals in the draft Bill Section 2(d) and also for total deletion of Chapter IV Part II i.e. Sections 29 to 34”, he added.
NSS