Statute panel opposed

He mooted that the Sarkaria Commission had made significant recommendations which have remained unimplemented and should be given effect without further delay. Bhardwaj, who is chairman of the All India Congress Laywers’ Cell and was here to preside over a meeting of its Punjab unit, similarly opposed the moves to enact a uniform civil code in the country and annul Article 370. While the latter would mark the end of accession of Kashmir to India, he said that a uniform code would be impractical in view of the four problematic areas of marriage, divorce, maintenance and succession where personal laws are inter-linked with religious issues and practices in the pluralistic Indian society. Flaying the Atal Behari Vajpayee government for its alleged total failure in office, Bhardwaj feared that it would soon fall on its own. The Congress will not pull it down, he affirmed advising it to set its priorities right and curb ministerial cacophony.

He said he would be touring all states to strengthen the legal wing of the Congress and open its branches down to districts. The Punjab Congress Legal Cell, on this occasion, passed a resolution urging the state government to give adequate compensation to the next of kin of those youths who had drowned in Malta boat tragedy.Members of the Advocates Coordination Forum led by Parminder Singh Gill submitted a memorandum to Bhardwaj urging him to initiate steps to get the Advocates Welfare Fund implemented in Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

and raise the standard of legal profession for which they offered to impart free training to new entrants into the profession. They also demanded immediate filling up of vacancies of judges in the High Court.