Twenty advocates have been suspended by the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry due to the protests by advocates against the judiciary in September.
Out of these, three lawyers’ advocates-E Murugan, D Vijay and C Vijay had used a secluded spot behind the ADR building in the Madras HC campus to have alcohol every evening.
The advocates set a ‘mini-bar’, with a stock of soda, liquor bottles and snacks, that a group of three young advocates had managed to set up over a water sump inside the Madras High Court campus.
This was the first time in the state such large number of advocates have been suspended together for unprofessional conduct. The matter would be referred to the disciplinary committee of the Council for the trial, he said this was to act as a deterrent among the legal fraternity,according to TN Bar Council Chairman D Selvam.
‘Clients are the ones who are affected due to this problem. They end up paying the wrong lawyer. For example, a lawyer gets money from a client to argue his case. If he does not present himself during the hearing, the client can complain to the Bar Council. If the council finds the lawyer at fault, it suspends him/her from practice. But, in reality, many clients are not aware of this mechanism and the power of the Bar Council. If there is more awareness, then the legal profession will benefit from it,’ Gandhi said.
The lawyers barred by the council include those who tried to barge into a court hall when suo motu contempt proceedings initiated against two Madurai lawyers were in progress and prevented the court from discharging its judicial functions.