The Maharashtra government on Tuesday informed the Bombay High Court that it will decide by the end of this week on whether to allow lawyers to travel by local trains during peak hours.
The statement was made by Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni before a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni, which was hearing a bunch of petitions seeking that lawyers and their clerks be permitted to travel to work in local trains during peak hours.
The pleas filed by lawyers sought that they be recognised as a part of essential services.
In October this year, following the High Court's intervention on the same pleas, the state government had permitted lawyers to use local trains to commute to courts and their offices before 8 am and after 11 am.
Advocate Shyam Dewani, the counsel in one of the petitions, on Tuesday, told the bench that since the High Court had resumed physical hearings, it was imperative that lawyers are permitted to commute by local trains during peak hours to reach the court that begins functioning at 11 am every day.
Advocate General Kumbhakoni told the court that the state government will hold a meeting with the stakeholders in a day or so and take a decision on the request raised by lawyers by the end of this week.
The court accepted Kumbhakoni's statement and posted the matter for further hearing on December 9.
Until then, the previous allowances made to lawyers regarding local trains commute will continue.
