Several advocates in Karnataka high court and city civil court are not given any lockers to keep their files.
Several advocates in Karnataka high court and city civil court are not given any lockers to keep their files.
While the high court has 1,200 lockers, there are about 2,000 to 2,500 lockers in city civil court. Those advocates sans lockers have to carry their heaps of documents in their own bags. " We have to carry our bags of documents to the court every time," said advocate AV Amarnathan. "To provide lockers for every advocate, we will need lot of space," said Advocates Association Bangalore (AAB) president KN Putte Gowda. The association helps provide locker facility in all courts. "There are about 7,000 advocates practicing in the high court. We will be glad to provide locker facilities to all of them. There is also a huge demand from the association members for lockers. However, there is no space," he said.
In the city court, an entire floor measuring 30,000 sq ft is used for lockers. But only some advocates are lucky to have their own lockers.
"Earlier, unlike today, there were only a handful of advocates. Those lockers too were for junior advocates to keep their gowns and coats, along with files and other necessary documents. It was not uncommon to see junior lawyers carrying huge bags of documents and files," said Amarnathan.
Another issue is that these lockers are never surrendered to the association, even after an advocate retires. They are passed on to their juniors. Sources revealed that some lockers in the Karnataka high court were used by many yesteryear advocates like the lok ayukta Justice Santosh Hegde and his locker has not been passed to anybody. However, when DNA checked with Hegde, he said, "I have not used my locker after 1984. I have no idea what has happened to it. It was not passed on to my juniors either. It clearly belongs to the advocates' association now."
At least, junior advocates have the liberty of keeping their documents in their senior's locker or car. But lawyers practicing independently are left without any choice.
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