Date:17/08/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/17/stories/2007081752570300.htm

Tamil Nadu

Lawyers boycott court in Tirupattur

Staff Reporter

13 people got stuck in life for 45 minutes
Boycott to continue until PWD resolves issue

TIRUPATTUR: Lawyers at Tirupattur in Vellore district began their indefinite boycott of court proceedings on Thursday to protest against the Public Works Department (PWD) for not providing adequate infrastructure to meet out contingencies inside the newly constructed Combined Court complex here.

A decision had been taken as no lift and generator operators have been posted to help them in times of contingencies. On Thursday, 13 people, including three advocates and three court employees, got into the lift to reach one of the top floors. When the lift reached the second floor, there was a sudden power cut.

As a result all the 13 people got stuck inside the lift for more than 45 minutes. There was no lift operator to rescue the people trapped inside. Even though generator facilities were said to be available, no one had been posted to operate the generator.

However, people trapped inside the lift were rescued after much hardship.

Three of the advocates trapped inside the lift lodged a complaint with the Tirupattur Bar Association that they would have died of suffocation.

The Bar Association took a decision to indefinitely boycott the court proceedings until the time the PWD resolved the issue.