The governments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have submitted before the Delhi High Court that they are issuing e-passes to advocates and other staff, who want to visit the national capital for court and legal work. Lawyers living in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh can heave a sigh of relief as the UP government has allowed lawyers living in Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar to apply for e-passes with district nodal officers in order to come to their Delhi offices, while Haryana government will issue weekly epasses to lawyers practising in Delhi.
In a reply filed in the Delhi High Court, the Uttar Pradesh government said: “In a case of any urgent requirement by a citizen if any movement is required to travel to Delhi, then in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad, UP Nodal officers have been appointed to whom a request can be made for an individual’s travel to Delhi and the Nodal officer would issue a onetime pass as per law, permitting that individual to travel to Delhi and back on a specified date.
This facility can be availed by lawyers living in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad who wants to travel to Delhi to attend their Private office for some urgent professional work.” During the hearing advocate K.C. Mittal said that the performa uploaded for issuance of e-passes by nodal officers of districts Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad do not have column for advocates and it is only for issuance of interdistrict movement within Uttar Pradesh.
He also said for inter-state e-passes, the separate performa has to be provided along with including advocates in the category for issuance of e-passes. He added that the e-passes should be issued within half an hour of the application and should be valid for at least one week, to avoid daily inconvenience, as has been done by the Haryana government.
The Delhi High Court listed the matter for further hearing on 20 May. Last week, the court had sought response from the state governments on a plea by Bar Council of Delhi seeking inter-state travel exemption for practising lawyers. The Delhi high court was hearing a petition by Bar Council of Delhi through its chairman and advocate K.C. Mittal, challenging the decision of the neighbouring states restricting the movement of advocates, who reside in the NCR areas, to visit their offices and attend courts in the Delhi.
