Cuttack, Nov. 5: The Orissa State Bar Council (OSBC) today demanded withdrawal of the proposed Legal Practitioners (Regulation and Maintenance of Standards in Profession, Protecting of Interest of Clients and Promoting the Rule of Law) Act, 2010.

Voicing protest against the proposed Act at the inaugural function of its golden jubilee celebrations, OSBC chairman Gopal Krushna Mohanty said: “The central government’s new legislation will make a serious dent in the autonomy of the state bar councils.”

The Union ministry of law and justice had proposed the Act for establishment of a legal services board, consisting of a chairman, a member secretary and five members. The Act also provides for appointment of an ombudsman by the board for each state to deal with complaints against lawyers.

“The appointment of an ombudsman would be undemocratic. The central government should immediately withdraw the proposed Act,” Mohanty said.

The bar council chairman also expressed disappointment over the Orissa government’s lack of response over the years to financial contribution towards the Advocates’ Welfare Fund.

“The state government should wake up from its slumber,” Mohanty said.

In his address, chief guest Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik called for “transparency and ethical practice” in the legal system. He said: “Lawyers have a great role in curbing abuse in society.”

Naveen stressed the need for attention to “cost and time” in getting justice.

Inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations, Justice Altamas Kabir of the Supreme Court said: “The bar and the bench are inseparable. It is the bar which makes the bench what it is and it is the bench which makes the lawyers what they are,” he said, adding, “The Bar Council is the watchdog of the system.”

Orissa High Court Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda said: “Poor people’s access to justice is the prime task before the bar.” He appealed to the bar “to protect human rights by taking legal awareness in the form of legal aid to rural areas and to the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe people”.

Justice A.K. Pattnaik of the Supreme Court asked if “economic development is possible without changes in law”. Among others who were present on the occasion included Justice Deepak Mishra of the Supreme Court and former judge of the Supreme Court A.P. Mishra (now chairman of the Legal Education Committee of Bar Council of India), Bar Council of India chairman Ashok Parija and advocate general Ashok Mohanty.

As part of the two-day golden jubilee celebrations, the State Bar Council will felicitate 84 lawyers of Orissa who have put in more than 50 years of legal practice. Among others, 91-year-old Bibhudendra Mishra (former Union minister), who attended the function in a wheelchair, was felicitated today.

Five seminar sessions on Need of legal reforms: the role of lawyers in upholding the rule of law, access to justice and constitutional safeguards (November 5) and Need of reform in legal education, environmental jurisprudence and protecting human rights in an age of insecurity (November 6) have also been planned.