Vadodara: The Baroda Bar Association (BBA) is facing flak from the advocates over seating arrangement at the new court complex in Diwalipura. After the office-bearers and some advocates made a visit to the new building along with the district judge, photos of the seating arrangement went viral among the messaging groups of the lawyers.
The photos sparked anger among the lawyers as it will fit not more than 600 advocates against the 1,500 promised earlier by the bar association office-bearers. In fact several groups of lawyers, have decided unanimously that they will boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new building that will be held on March 17. Ever since the proposal of the new court complex was initiated, seating arrangement in the new complex has been of bone of contention among the advocates.
On Tuesday evening, after the visit to the new complex the newly elected office-bearers of the BBA made an oral representation to the district judge about it and also called an urgent meeting presided over by the vice-president Vaikank Joshi.
At the end of the meeting, a resolution was passed by the body where it was decided that forms will be issued and all those lawyers who require seating arrangement can fill the form and submit them. In response to the resolution, on Wednesday, within three hours around 1,300 lawyers submitted the form which further fuelled the agitation.
Many groups have threatened that they will boycott the inauguration of the building, while there were some groups who even compared the seating arrangement to the one in a hotel or canteen.
However, Nalin Patel, who was elected for six times as the president of BBA, denied any problem at the new building. “There are arrangements enough for all the lawyers. Even after all get seats, extra space will be left out in the building,” said Patel, adding that the issue is being raised by those who faced defeat in the association’s polls held in December and the result of which were announced last week.
The issue of seating arrangement has intensified now as the inauguration date nears, but it has been raised several times in the past. Previous office-bearers of the BBA had even met the chief justice of Gujarat high court last year after the civil work of the building was over and it even remained an important issue during the association’s polls.
Problem of plenty
The bar association on Wednesday received 1,300 applications for seating arrangement and it is expected to receive hundreds more by March 16. However, it is not clear how all of them will be accommodated in the arrangement which is meant only for 600 advocates. Besides this, the exact number of practicing lawyers is not known. According to estimates, the total number of practicing lawyers could be anywhere between 3,000 and 4,000. However, the electoral roll of the association has around 2,200 lawyers and there are even some who have not paid the membership fees. BBA’s president Nalin Patel told TOI: “Arrangements will also be made in the association’s library and some parts of the canteen, which does not need large space.”
abcd
