New Delhi : Judicial work in the Delhi courts was paralysed due to the two-day strike of city lawyers which began on Wednesday to protest the delay in passing the amended bill regarding enhancement of the pecuniary jurisdiction of district courts.
The co-ordination committee of bar associations of all the district courts in Delhi said that despite assurances, the proposed bill recommending enhancement of pecuniary jurisdiction to Rs.2 crore for the courts, has not been cleared by parliament.
Committee chairman R.K. Wadhwa demanded that the bill should be passed in the ongoing session of parliament.
He said the lawyers will hold a protest march against the central government outside the prime minister’s residence on Thursday.
The strike was successful in all the six district courts – Patiala House, Tis Hazari, Rohini, Karkardooma, Saket and Dwarka – and will continue on Thursday, he added.
“The bill was tabled and presented in the Rajya Sabha on March 4. However, much to the agony and discomfort of all the affected lawyers and litigants of Delhi, the bill failed to achieve its objective and got deferred on no related issue of setting up of commercial division in all high courts, vis-a-vis of conferring pecuniary jurisdiction of Rs.2 crore for district courts of Delhi,” the lawyers’ committee said.
The committee also said that the full bench of the Delhi High Court had recommended enhancing pecuniary jurisdiction from the existing Rs.20 lakh to Rs.2 crore.