A delegation of Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa today met Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar with a set of demands.
The state government should work towards enacting the Maharashtra Advocates Protection Act to safeguard lawyers from physical harm especially an assault on them, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar said today.
Narvekar added the state should also amend the existing Maharashtra Advocates Welfare Fund Act, 1981 and bring in an amended and a more effective law on this front.
On Thursday, a delegation comprising office bearers and senior lawyers of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa met Narvekar in the Assembly Hall and raised with him several issues the lawyers are facing. At the top of these issues was the rising number of cases of assault on lawyers. The delegation also presented a set of demands to the Speaker.
Lawyers are an important link between the public and the court. They constantly work to ensure the common man got justice. An attack on them was akin to attack on people’s rights, Rahul Narvekar, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker
During the discussion, Narvekar assured the delegation that he will definitely take up the issue with the government. For the purpose, he will write to the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister and inform them about the lawyers’ grievances.
While talking to the delegation, Narvekar underscored the fact that lawyers were an important link between the public and the court. “Lawyers are constantly working to ensure that the common man got justice. Incidents of attack on them are indirectly an attack on the rights of the people,” Narvekar said.
According to him, the new law will be helpful in preventing such incidents and provide healthy atmosphere for advocates to work in.
The lawyers’ delegation included Adv. Jayant Jaibhave, Adv. Milind Patil, Adv. Sangram Desai, Adv. Vitthal Konde-Deshmukh, Adv. Milind Thobde, Adv. Satish Deshmukh, Adv. Vivek Ghadge, Adv. Ahmed Khan Pathan, Adv. Gajanan Chavan and Adv. Sandeep Kekane.