Hyderabad: Bar Council of Telangana has welcomed Telangana Advocates’ Welfare and Protection Bill proposed by the state govt.The council, however, urged the govt to split the bill in terms of advocate protection and welfare, which according to the draft bill were merged. The council members also raised concerns over a few other aspects in the bill.A Narasimha Reddy, chairman of the council said the proposed bill reflects govt’s intention to safeguard dignity, independence and security of the legal fraternity, and ensure a secure working environment for legal professionals.“As the bill is expected to provide a structured framework to address concerns relating to the safety and professional functioning of advocates, it will undoubtedly boost the morale of advocates and reinforce public confidence in the legal system,” Narasimha Reddy said.According to the council, the existing Telangana Advocate Welfare Fund, managed by the council has been extending financial benefits to practising advocates, however, the same has been merged into the act as Telangana Advocates Welfare Trust without any specifications on the amount to be provided to the advocates in terms of emergency.“If the same is entrusted to the council, the benefits would be extended based on the needs of the affected persons maintaining larger interests of the fraternity,” council member Kolli Satyanarayana said.The proposed bill provides protection from litigants not only to the advocates but also to their families to prevent any coercion to the advocates in terms of cases.Further, if police receives any complaint against advocate on the allegations of their involvement in a crime, police has to first forward the complaint to the concerned chief metropolitan magistrate and if the magistrate finds the advocate’s prima facie involvement in the alleged crime, a case could be registered.Another major clause in the bill is that if any advocate is found misusing the law would be punishable with imprisonment up to three years or fine up to 25,000 or both.
