The Bar Council of India (BCI) also continued to act tough and suspended the practice licence of 14 more lawyers, who had allegedly resorted to violence during the agitation, for a period of 18 months. It had earlier suspended all the members of the district bar till further orders and cancelled licence of 29 advocates for 18 months.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court asked the Central Action Committee of the Bar Associations to withdraw the strike unconditionally. The court made it abundantly clear that there is no requirement for creating new benches in a day and age when the use of technology, such as virtual courts and e-filing, is so widespread.
Earlier, the top court had rapped Odisha Police DG and Sambalpur IGP over their failure in handling the lawyers’ strike in the state. “We will deploy Central forces if the Odisha Police is unable to control the situation,” it added.