As the labour lawyers' stir enters its sixth day today, it seems ironic that they have been forced to strike work to demand a office that does not threaten to collapse on their heads. A ceiling of one of the courtrooms in the ramshackled Arun Chambers, which houses 12 labour courts, eight industrial courts, the workmen compensation court and the wage board court, had collapsed sometime back in June. Ever since then, the lawyers have been demanding that the courts be shifted to an alternate site. To press for their demand, they first struck work on June 12 and followed it up with a chain hunger-strike. The hunger-strike was broken only after the government assured striking lawyers that the courts would be shifted to an alternate site in Bandra before August 15. Today is September 18 and nothing has been done so far. Are the lawyers asking for too much? Don't we all deserve a safe office where we can concentrate on our work without worrying about the cracks in the ceiling? Haven't all the building collapsesthat have claimed several lives this season taught the government any lessons?There is no doubt about the Arun Chambers being a dangerous building. All the courts on its third floor have already been shut because falling chunks of ceiling posed a constant danger of people getting hurt. Two courts on the sixth floor have also been closed and judges are being forced to hold court in their chambers. While the dilapidated condition of the building had anyway put severe constraints on the working of courts, the lawyers' strike has brought their functioning almost to a standstill. Cases are piling up. There is silence today in the courts where there used to be 1,500 hearings every day. It beats logic why the government is dilly dallying on the shifting even when an alternate site is ready and the lawyers have approved of the same. Is it waiting for a repeat of Poonam Chambers in Tardeo?
