J’khand lawyers protest hike in court fees, abstain from work

So, we urged the state government to withdraw the decision of hike in court fee, Sahay said.In Godda, lawyers staged demonstration in protest against the hike and kept themselves away from court works.

About 30,000 lawyers abstained from judicial work in Jharkhand on Monday in protest against the hike in court fees, a state bar association member claimed.

The lawyers alleged that the hike would be detrimental to common people as well as advocates.

Rajesh Pandey, Secretary, Jharkhand State Bar Council, told PTI: ''About 30,000 members associated with 24 district bar associations, 12 sub-divisional bar associations and Advocates Association, Jharkhand High Court abstained from work in protest against steep hike in the court fees. This will deprive a large number of common people from availing justice. The legal aid system is neither efficient nor sufficient.'' Vice-chairman of Jharkhand State Bar Council Rajesh Shukla told PTI, “The government has hiked the court fee by 10 times, which will cause a big trouble to poor litigants. In protest against the unprecedented hike, we, the lawyers, observed a token pen down strike by staying away from judicial work on Monday.” “We handed over a memorandum to the state government urging it roll back the decision,” he said.

In Dhanbad, about 5,000 lawyers took part in the protest. The district bar association president Amarendra Kumar Sahay said, “The lawyers came to the court as per the schedule. But, they did not participate in routine judicial work. We also wore black badges as a mark of protest.” A delegation of the association led by Sahay handed over a memorandum to the deputy commissioner (DC) and district judge.

“Court fee hike will hit the poor litigants. So, we urged the state government to withdraw the decision of hike in court fee,” Sahay said.

In Godda, lawyers staged demonstration in protest against the hike and kept themselves away from court works. “Such unprecedented hike will impact poor and judicial work. Government should re-consider the decision. Otherwise, we will have to go for phased manner agitation,” said district bar association president Nikhil Kumar Jha.

In Palamu, more than 600 lawyers participated in the protest. They wore black badges and staged a demonstration. District bar association general secretary Subodh Kumar Sinha termed the government decision as ''one-sided''. The association demanded the withdrawal of the hike.