New Delhi, December 13
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has suspended the licences of 29 Odisha lawyers for 18 months for using unparliamentary words to address judges, manhandling policemen and obstructing court proceedings.
The BCI, which regulates the legal profession in India, also issued an interim order suspending the licences of practice of all members of the Sambalpur District Bar Association (SDBA) until further orders. A final call regarding action against other members of the SDBA shall be taken after getting a report from the Registrar as well as the State Bar Council, the BCI said.
The decision was taken on Monday evening after certain video clips showed protesting lawyers barging into courtrooms and damaging computers and other properties, it said.
The protesting lawyers are demanding a permanent Bench of the state High Court in western Odisha.
The top court, which had asked the BCI to explain as to what extent the licences of the lawyers leading the agitation had been suspended, is scheduled to take up the matter on Wednesday.
As striking lawyers in Odisha continued to vandalise courts, the Supreme Court had on Monday asked the Odisha DGP to appear before it through video-conferencing on December 14 to spell out the measures taken to deal with the situation.
“We will put all of them in custodyhellip; No solution. If a thousand people need to be arrested, let them be arrested. We don’t care,” an angry Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had said.
