Ranchi, May 20: The decisions of the Jharkhand State Bar Council of designating five high court practitioners as senior advocates and the call for boycott of court work on May 17 has triggered discontent among the legal fraternity in the district court in the capital.

The State Bar Council had decided to abstain from court work on May 17, while the advocate was murdered on May 13. Instead of immediately calling a strike, the council decided to abstain from work on May 17 after the high court closed. The decision of delayed strike was perhaps taken by the council as majority of its members practise in the high court, alleged Ranchi District Court Association secretary S.S. Ojha.

He said the advocates of the lower courts are treated as middle class people, who have no say in the decisions and meetings of the council.

Afroz, another advocate in the lower court lambasted the council for selecting its members to be designated as senior advocates. Of the five advocates who were designated, three are members of the State Bar Council. This is not a healthy practice, Afroz added.

The Advocates’ Act, 1961 says that there will be two classes of advocates — advocates and senior advocates. Senior advocates will be designated by their experience and by virtue of their knowledge of law. The act does not declare that a senior advocate has to practice only in high court.