PUNE, Feb 26: There was high drama at the tehsildar office this morning when as many as 100 advocates who have been conducting business from underneath trees and garden umbrellas in the office compound for the past 20 years, went on a pen down strike and folded up their chairs and tables, chaining them up to nearby tree stumps.The strike was called off only after the advocates, whose chairs and tables were to be thrown out of the court compound today following a notice issued by the tehsildar, met deputy collector Sadanand Koche and sought an assurance from him that no eviction would be carried out for a week.The delegation, lead by Y N Londhe, president of the Tehsildar Compound Advocates Bar Association and Gorakhshanath Kale, president of the Pune Bar Association, has also asked the deputy collector to provide them with space for the chairs and tables of 100 advocates and a 15 feet by 15 feet cabin for a bar office that the advocates will build on their own.``We have also demanded that unauthorised persons who are undertaking bond work at the tehsildar's court compound should not be allowed to practice there,'' said Vishwanath Pai, legal advisor for the striking advocates, adding that the deputy tehsildar has asked them to submit a list of names of advocates practising in the tehsil premises.The tehsildar kacheri, which was the site for the sessions court in British times, has taken on its new avatar after the courts were shifted to Shivajinagar in 1919. Advocates have been operating from under trees, garden umbrellas and tarpauline sheds for the past 20 years outside the tehsildar's office and working conditions get harsher with the summer and rainy seasons.Business includes making affidavits, power of attorney and all paper work pertaining to property. Advocates function in similar conditions at the sub registrar's office at haveli number 2 and 4 on Senapati Bapat Road where also no sitting provisions have been made for the advocates.``In the allotted one week advocates will meet the collector and brief him about their problems and needs,'' said Pai.
