Lawyers plead for 5-day week

PATIALA, Mar 17: The Patiala District Bar Association (PDBA) has demanded introduction of a five-day week in trial courts pointing out th...

PATIALA, Mar 17: The Patiala District Bar Association (PDBA) has demanded introduction of a five-day week in trial courts pointing out that the High Court, the Supreme Court, the Punjab government as also all its boards and corporations were following a five-day week pattern.

A demand to this effect was made by the bar association in a memorandum submitted by it to Justice V.K. Bali of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, who had come here for an inspection of the courts.

Vinay Vatrana, secretary of the bar association, in a press release here today said that among other demands made by the association were change in the working hours, provision of more chambers for lawyers in the judicial complex now under construction and more space for a bar room.

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According to the charter of demands, the lawyers demanded a uniform pattern of working hours by ordering a five-day-week in the trial courts on the pattern of five-day-week in Supreme Court of India, High Court, Punjab Government offices, corporations etc.

The lawyers have also demanded a change in working hours from 7 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. as it is very difficult to work in a scorching heat. The statement said courts in Haryana and Bhatinda district in Punjab also changed working hours in summer.

The statement also demanded increase in the number of chambers for lawyers, from 350 to at least 600, at the judicial complex which is under construction here. The statement argued that the number of lawyers practising at district courts here was increasing and may swell to more than 1,000 when the judicial complex completed.