Pic & Story Courtesy : Advocate Shailesh Lodha.
Advocates of Metropolitan Court Ahmedabad in Unique Style Ask For Opening of Court. As only Courts are closed in the City and everything started in routine life.
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The vast majority of lawyers depend on fresh filings and hearings for their income. With only urgent matters listed, lawyers are finding it tough.
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India’s coronavirus lockdown is revealing deep income disparities in the legal profession
- On March 24 evening when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown for 21 days to contain the coronavirus pandemic, S Palani, a lawyer who practices in the civil courts in Ahmedabad, decided to find whatever transport he could to get back to his village in Halvad, about 75 km from the city.Palani felt that a three-week lockdown would mean zero income for him. The 35-year-old employs one junior, a woman lawyer who lives in a hostel in Ahmedabad. The situation is so tough that he does not know how to pay her this month. “I give her Rs 7000 a month and then a percentage of the fee I get,” the lawyer said. “Now even I wouldn’t get Rs 7000.”
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Struggling lawyers
When the nationwide lockdown with an insistence on social distancing was announced on March 24, the judiciary, from the Supreme Court to the lowest sessions courts, decided that they would only attend to extremely urgent matters. This would be done through video conferencing.
What counts as an urgent matter was left to the discretion of the court officials. In Delhi, for example, a lawyer has to file a petition online with the court officials with a one-page statement explaining why the matter is urgent. The court officials will look at this explanation and decide if it should be allowed.