Bar Council urges state govt to modify SOP, withdraw restriction for movement of advocates

July 5: The Assam Government was supposed to come up with revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in connection with Covid-19 management in the state on Monday. However, till 10 PM on Monday, no such SOP was announced by the state government.

Meanwhile, the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim has submitted a representation to the Assam Chief Secretary urging him to modify the existing SOP. The Bar Council has requested the Chief Secretary to pass an order directing the appropriate authority not to cause ‘harassment’ to any advocate and not to take professional information from any advocate.

The Bar Council has stated that there should be no timeline restriction for the movement of advocates. Moreover, the Bar Council wrote to the Chief Secretary to include a clarification which ought to state that an advocate is an ‘officer of the court’. The Bar Council also requested to withdraw the restriction of odd-even rule for vehicles of advocates. To discharge their professional duties, the Bar Council requested the state government to allow the advocates inter-district movement.