Lawyers protest against Hoshiarpur Assistant Labour Commissioner

The District Bar Association, Hoshiarpur, while accusing the Assistant Labour Commissioner of alleged misbehaviour with lawyers, gheraoed the office of the Assistant Labour Commissioner located at the Mini Secretariat and staged a sit-in in front of the office. The lawyers also raised slogans against the Punjab Government and the Assistant Labour Commissioner.

The sit-in, which started after 12 noon, ended around 5 pm after the assurance of Hoshiarpur SDM Gursimranjit Kaur to resolve the matter within a week. During this period, the lawyers did not allow the Assistant Labour Commissioner to leave his office by continuing protest outside his office door.

Earlier, the tehsildar, who had reached the spot, tried to end the sit-in by convincing the lawyers and asked them to submit a memorandum of their demands in this regard. On this occasion advocate Palwinder Singh Ghuman, president of the District Bar Association Hoshiarpur, said that memorandums had already been sent to the CM and DC of the district.

During the protest, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Market Committee Chairman Jaspal Singh Chechi also arrived and assured the lawyers that the problem would be resolved.

Advocate Ghuman alleged that the Assistant Labour Commissioner allegedly misbehaved with some lawyers and also prevented them from coming to his room. Apart from this, he made several other serious allegations against him, including working at his own will against the already existing system of hearing the cases and illegally video recording the lawyers coming for hearing. He further said that instead of listening to the lawyers, the Assistant Labour Commissioner was promoting the alleged broker, which is against the legal profession, and at times even openly threatening the labourers and employees.

He added that earlier advocate Eknoor Singh Thiara had also lodged a complaint against the said officer to the Bar Association and Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur. After the demonstration that lasted for about five hours, Hoshiarpur SDM Gursimranjit Kaur reached the spot and talked to the Assistant Labour Commissioner and the delegation of lawyers and assured them that she be given a week’s time to take appropriate action in this regard.

A large number of lawyers, including Bar general secretary advocate Navjinder Singh Bedi, vice-president advocate Vikram Singh and advocates Dharminder Kumar Dadra and Naveen Jairath, etc. were present on the occasion.

Lawyers unhappy with fast-track court: Kang

Assistant Labour Commissioner Jashandeep Singh Kang told the reporters that he had constituted a fast-track court for the speedy settlement of long-pending cases, which is not being liked by lawyers. He said that a total of 158 gratuity cases, 64 cases under the Minimum Wages Act, 40 cases under the Payment of Wages Act and 14 under the Employee Compensation Act had been settled in the last five months in this court. He said that in the interest of justice, now cases pending for more than two years under the Employee Compensation Act were being settled in fast-track mode.