About 8,000 lawyers practising at the district and sessions court here will go on leave en masse for four days from Tuesday owing to the swine flu outbreak.
The Pune Bar Association (PBA) took a decision in this regard at a meeting held at the civil bar room at the new district and sessions court building on Monday.
Besides, lawyers practising in all other courts in the district will be on leave during this period. "Lawyers practising in all courts in Pune district, like the district and sessions court, magistrate courts in talukas, labour and industrial courts, family court and the office of the charity commissioner, will be on leave till August 21," PBA president Ram Patole said.
Harshad Nimbalkar, member of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa, said, "The lawyers have unanimously passed a resolution to go on leave en masse as the Bombay High Court has not yet considered the representation made by the council chairman Satish Talekar and vice-chairman Nandu Phadke to close the courts for eight days as even the state government had ordered the closure of malls, theatres, education institutes and other places for a few days."
According to Nimbalkar, "The lawyers will attend the courts only in urgent matters like arguing bail matters, police custody remands and injunction applications while the other lawyers who do not have any urgent work at the court will remain on leave till August 21."
Nimbalkar said, "Going on leave en masse does not amount to contempt of court as the lawyers are not boycotting the proceedings. The lawyers and litigants have decided not to come to the court for a few days as the place is relatively more vulnerable to diseases like H1N1 flu."
Council member Ahmed Khan Pathan said, "The PBA has requested the principal district and sessions judge to fumigate the court premises and ensure cleanliness within four days as a preventive measure as the state government has also invoked the Epidemic Disease Control Act."
Patole said, "The Bar will take a review of the situation in Pune before deciding a further course of action by holding a meeting next Monday."
The meeting on Monday was attended by PBA vice-presidents Vaikunthnath Badhe and Shekar Jagtap, secretary Kishore Patil and former presidents Laxman Ghadge-Patil and N D Patil.
Lawyers Alankar Karlekar, Satish Pahilwan, Anupama Shevade and Vidya Pelapkar addressed the gathering and expressed their intention to compensate the loss caused to the litigants by working on holidays.
After the meeting, lawyer N D Patil distributed 1,000 masks to the lawyers and appealed to them to take preventive measures to avert swine flu.
The PBA has handed over a copy of the resolution to the principal district and sessions judge Vijay Achliya to circulate the decision taken by them to all the judges so that they don't pass any ex parte orders if the lawyers remain absent.
