Advocates boycott courts

CHENNAI: The members of the Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA), TN Advocates Association (TNAA) and Women Lawyers Association (WLA) on Friday abstained from attending to the courts and other foras to mark their protest against the ‘Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011’.The government advocates, however, attended the courts. The judges sat for a while and later returned to their chambers. Led by TNAA president S Prabakaran, the TNAA members took out a rally raising slogans against the Bill.Later, MHAA president G Mohanakrishnan and Prabakaran told journalists that the bill, proposing to take away the duties and functions of the BCI, the statutory body governing the legal education and profession, was an attempt by the Union Human Resources Development Ministry to encroach upon the provisions of the Advocates Act.