Chandigarh: Describing the Centre's Higher
Education and Research Bill 2011' as "undemocratic", the Bar
Council of Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday said it would
protest against the proposed legislation as it was aimed at
taking away powers of legal education committee of the Bar
council of India.
"The bar council smells hidden agenda of the government
in bringing this bill to allow the foreign nationals to
practice as advocates in India," Bar council of Punjab and
Haryana high court chairman Lekh Raj Sharma told reporters
here.
Noting that the legal education committee is a committee
of Bar council of India to supervise the legal education of
advocates and prescribe law courses, inspect infrastructure
of law colleges, he said that "the Centre with this bill
decided to take the powers of the committee and bring it under
the bill".
He said that if the bill was implemented by the
parliament the power of committee will be exercised by the
appointees of the government.
"The bill will curb the independence of advocates and he
will be made subsurvient of government," he said while
condemning the bill.
He said that the bar councils of all courts in the
country will hold a protest day against the bill on January
20. The mode of protest will be decided in an emergent meeting
of the bar council of January 15, he added.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 12, 2012, 15:51
