CHENNAI: A delegation of the Federation of Bar Associations of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on Thursday met Tamil Nadu law minister C T R Nirmal Kumar and submitted a draft bill with suggestive provisions to be included in the Tamil Nadu Advocates (Protection) Act, an exclusive legislation for protection of advocates.Receiving the draft bill, the minister assured the delegation that he would take it to the notice of the chief minister C Joseph Vijay and do the needful as per his instructions.On Oct 3, the federation convened a meeting for the welfare of the legal fraternity in which the law minister participated. In the meeting, a resolution was adopted to initiate steps for the protection of the members of the Bar.While addressing the gathering, Nirmal Kumar assured the members of the Bar that a law protecting the interest of the lawyers would be enacted by the state assembly. He suggested that the federation come up with a draft bill as an initial step for consulting the stakeholders.In view of the same, the federation met the minister and submitted a draft bill.The legislation is proposed for greater protection of advocates and their functions in discharge of professional duties. The proposal was made in the background of recent incidents of assault, killings, intimidation and regular threats caused to advocates due to proper and honest discharge of their professional duties.This often resulted in law-and-order situations and sometimes caused obstruction and deficiencies in rendering professional services by advocates to their clients; apart from instilling a deep sense of apprehension in the minds of advocates while discharging their professional duties, S Prabakaran, honorary chairman of the federation said.“Yet another hurdle faced by advocates stems from their representing detainees or arrested or incarcerated persons. It has been seen in several cases that advocates are sought to be questioned about privileged communication to make detection of alleged crime easier. However, this militates against the basic tenets of the legal profession and violates the sanctity which the law enjoins the advocate to maintain with respect to such privileged communication or materials,” he added.
