A strike by lawyers protesting against the shifting of Patiala House Courts to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg paralysed the judicial work at all district courts in Delhi on Friday.Due to non-appearance of lawyers, court hearings of hundreds of cases were adjourned."We are protesting against the shifting and future bifurcation of other courts," the Coordination Committee of All District Court Bar Associations of Delhi said in a statement.The committee quoted the Delhi government as saying that there are 400 chambers for lawyers in the new building on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg.
"But the building plan reveals there is no provision for lawyers' chambers," said committee spokesperson Sanjeev Nasiar. He said that the decision was taken unilaterally.The strike was successful in all six district courts at the Patiala House, Tis Hazari, Rohini, Karkardooma, Saket and Dwarka, committee general secretary Rajiv Tehran said.
Tehran said committee leaders met senior officials of the Delhi High Court who assured that a discussion will be held before shifting the district courts.Even tea vendors and other shops on the court premises shut outlets to support the agitating lawyers."If the Patiala House Courts are shifted to Rouse Avenue (Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg), it will affect our livelihood," shopkeeper Shatrughan Mukhiya told IANS at the Patiala House Courts complex.The committee has raised various issue like problem of vehicle entry, enormous delays owing to regular traffic snarls at the proposed site at Rouse Avenue in central Delhi and jurisdiction of courts."The most important issues raised by us is that the proposed court complex does not fall within the territory of the New Delhi district. The proposed complex falls in the jurisdiction of IP Estate police station in central Delhi district, which comes under Tis Hazari courts," the committee spokesperson said.