Cuttack: Advocates in Cuttack, including members of the Orissa High Court Bar Association, Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution opposing the Odisha State Bar Council’s move to collect Rs 100 each from advocates for its Corpus Welfare Fund.
The state bar council had June 8 issued a notification asking advocates to affix an additional amount of Rs 100 each in their vakalatnama, which will go to the council’s corpus fund.
The resisting advocates convened a meeting in which representatives of the Orissa High Court Bar Association and all other bar associations in the city, including Cuttack, Criminal Court, Revenue and Motor Vehicle Lawyers’ bar associations passed a resolution opposing the council’s move.
Participants said that in the absence of a permanent bar council, the interim committee of the council is not authorised to take a decision on policy matters of advocate fees.
They pointed out that there was no valid reason for the council to collect money from advocates for the corpus fund and instead, the council could have approached the state government for it.
“It was unanimously decided not to affix any additional fees in the vakalatnama as notified by the interim committee of the state bar council,” the resolution on the letterhead of the High Court Bar Association said.
Their decision would be intimated to other bar associations of the state requesting them to adhere to the decision, it added.
PTI
