MUMBAI, FEB 27: In a letter to the Bar Council of India, Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani has ``highly regretted the unfortunate incident'' of the lathi charge on lawyers near the Parliament, and has offered an impartial probe into the incident by a Supreme Court judge.In a letter written on Friday, the minister has said that he felt ``from the statements made by the political leaders as well as leaders of the bar that an enquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court would be suitable,'' to which he reiterated that the Government had no objection. ``Provided the Chief Justice of India is ready to provide a colleague for the probe'', he has stated.Lawyers across the country had abstained from work and held demonstrations protesting against some of the amendments to the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) on February 24. However, in Delhi, some of the lawyers proceeding to the Parliament were lathi-charged where some were seriously hurt. The minister has assured ``justice, punishment of the guilty and compensation for the innocent sufferers''.A contrite Jethmalani, who had earlier rejected the lawyers' demand on the deferment of the implementation of the amended CPC, has appealed to the lawyers to start ``a fruitful dialogue on the issue'' and has assured that the date for the notification of the amended CPC is not decided as yet.As for the agitation against entry of foreign law firms in the country, the minister has stated that there is no proposal at present before the government ``even tentatively'' on the entry of foreign law firms.
