NEW DELHI, FEB 29: Law Minister Ram Jethmalani has asked lawyers to call off their strike saying there was no proposal to amend the Advocates Act.In a letter to Delhi High Court Bar Association president A S Chandihoke, Jethmalani said, "After the meeting of the representatives of the Bar with the Prime Minister, I made a statement in the Lok Sabha after showing it to them (the representatives) in advance."As repeatedly explained, there is no pending proposal for amendment of the Advocates Act," the Minister said in his letter dated February 25.He claimed that it was understood in the meeting with the representatives of the Bar that a, "status quo will be maintained and the strike called off."A delegation of lawyers led by Bar Council of India chairman S K Kaarvendhan had called on Prime Minister A B Vajpayee on February 25, a day after protesting lawyers clashed with the police near Parliament House in which 35 people, including two senior police officials and many lawyers, were injured.The lawyers had gone on one-day strike on February 24 against amendments to the Civil Procedure Code and the "proposed" amendment in the Advocates Act providing for periodic examination for lawyers and allowing foreign attorneys to practise in Indian courts.Meanwhile, work in the Delhi High Court and lower Courts in the Capital was severely affected for the fourth day today as the lawyers have converted their one-day strike into an indefinite stir demanding judicial probe into police "brutality" against them.
