By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 20 Nov: The strike by advocates in Dehradun continued on the eleventh day today in pursuit of their demands for chambers for practicing advocates. As a result of the strike, legal proceedings across the city courts and much of Uttarakhand have come to a virtual standstill.
Late last evening, the lawyers had convened an open house and unanimously formed a Committee at the Bar Association office on Haridwar Road. The Committee has submitted a memorandum containing seven specific demands to the District Magistrate. The District Administration has issued a written assurance in response, signed by three officials, promising that no advocate would be displaced until new chambers are constructed and proper rehabilitation is provided. This assurance, which maintains the existing status quo, was further complemented by a commitment to forward the advocates’ other demands, such as a waiver of development charges for chamber construction at the new District Judiciary premises, to the appropriate higher authorities.
Despite this partial assurance, the Struggle Committee held another executive meeting attended by key members today, after which it resolved that the protest would continue in its current form. The committee, led by Advocate Premchand Sharma, made it clear that the agitation would not be called off unless a meaningful dialogue is held directly with Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami. The advocates have stated unequivocally that only a constructive meeting involving the Bar Association office bearers and the CM can resolve the deadlock. Till then, the protest will remain ongoing, with no plans for suspension until their principal grievances are addressed.
The lawyers’ principal demand is the allocation and construction of legal chambers on the vacant land of the old District Court in Dehradun. The Doon Bar Association’s movement has received strong backing from the State Bar Association. Opposing the proposed construction of a night shelter, or ‘rain basera’, within the District Judge Court premises, the Bar Association office bearers argue that such a move would exacerbate the space shortage already faced by the legal fraternity. With around five thousand advocates, as well as an equal number of typists, clerks and vendors, and the regular presence of a substantial number of litigants, the current allocation of five bighas of land is grossly inadequate to accommodate everyone’s needs. The lawyers have therefore demanded the allocation of additional land for the construction of chambers, specifically suggesting that land on the Civil Compound at Haridwar Road within the District Judge Court complex should be made available to them for this purpose.
Meanwhile, the ongoing agitation has significantly affected court operations throughout Dehradun and the wider region, and the legal work remains largely paralysed.
