New Delhi, Sept. 3: The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Bar Council of India directing it to file within six weeks suggestions to curb lawyers’ strikes in various parts of the country.

The strikes, specially in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, have the court worried as they are in violation of an apex court judgment banning strikes.

Throughout last year, the Madras bar was up in arms against formation of a Madurai bench of Madras High Court, and in Madurai the lawyers were on strike seeking the formation of the bench.

Once the bench was formed in July this year, there were again a series of strikes by various bar associations on the allotment of districts to the high court and the Madurai bench. Trichy lawyers then began clamouring that the district should come under the Madurai bench.

In Karnataka, a lawyers’ strike in Hubli delayed BJP leader Uma Bharti’s walk to freedom on August 31. They were protesting against the decision of Karnataka High Court Chief Justice .K. Jain, who has ruled out a bench for the region.

A couple of days ago, the Madras bar again went on strike, seeking withdrawal of a code of conduct for lawyers introduced by high court Chief Justice Subhashan Reddy. The apex court had to arrange for police presence so that no lawyer or litigant was prevented from entering the court by strikers.

The contentious code has now been withdrawn.