Work in courts across the country was badly affected Wednesday as around 17 lakh lawyers joined a two-day strike called by the Bar Council of India (BCI) to protest a proposed legislation that could affect its autonomy and allow entry of foreign law institutes and universities in India.

The strike called Wednesday and Thursday is to protest four proposed legislations, including the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2010

The strike was “successful”, advocate Vijay Bhatt, associate managing trustee of the BCI, told IANS. “Judicial proceedings across the country were affected due to the nation-wide lawyers strike,” Bhatt said.

In the national capital, over 40,000 lawyers joined the strike, paralyzing the functioning of six district courts in Delhi. Around 50,000 cases were affected by the strike, said R.N. Vats, chairman of the Delhi District Courts Bar Association Co-ordination Committee and president of the Delhi Bar Association.

However, the Delhi High Court Bar Association did not observe the strike Wednesday. The association president, Amarjit Singh Chandhiok, told IANS that they would observe the strike Thursday.

Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa (BCMG) vice president Ashish P. Deshmukh said the response to the strike in the Maharashtra and Goa was “100 percent”.

Deshmukh told IANS that lawyers plan to make a bonfire of copies of the Higher Education & Research Bill, 2011, outside the Bombay High Court to register their protest.

The bill will lead to privatization and commercialization of law education in the country, and will curtail the power of the BCI, which is the authority to grant accreditation to law colleges, said Vats.

Strike in NE states successful: GHCBA
Work in courts all across the northeastern states was total and successful, Gauhati High Court Bar Association president Pijush Biswas told reporters in Agartala:

Reports from various northeastern states said the strike crippled functioning of lower and district courts besides the Sikkim and Gauhati High Court principal and state level benches in various northeastern states.

Gauhati High Court Bar Association secretary Arindam Lodh said the bills proposed to be introduced were “against the federal structure of the country and all educational institutions were sought to be regulated by a few nominees of the union human resources development ministry”.

“Foreign law colleges, foreign solicitor firms and lawyers from other countries would be allowed to work in India if these legislations are passed in the parliament,” he said.

KBA joins BCI strike
Kohima Correspondent Adds: Kohima Bar Association (KBA) Wednesday joined the two-day strike called by Bar Council of India (BCI) in protest against central government’s Higher Education and Research (HER) bill proposed to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament.

The strike has paralyzed the proceedings of the Court in Kohima and the Kohima Bench of Gauhati High Court with lawyers abstaining from work Wednesday.

KBA president Khriedi Theünuo said the lawyers will cease work during the two-day agitation in total support for the BCI demands.