The bar council of Maharashtra and Goa has resolved to oppose the establishment of evening courts in the state, which would put an undue burden on advocates’ working hours.

After receiving complaints from a number of the state’s associations, the bar council resolved at a special meeting on 25 August that that it would oppose to the establishment of roughly 200 evening courts across roughly 20 locations, said bar council secretary Varsha Rokade.

She told Legally India: “It is going to be really inconvenient for lawyers - there might be just four matters from morning to evening and lawyers run between three different courts. This would then become 12 to 14 hours at a stretch after doing the first shift in the evening.

“They'll be hardly left with any time in the evening – when are they going to do their filing and paperwork?”

She added that evening courts would also disadvantage female lawyers as well as make life harder for litigants who may have trouble arranging transport to and from courts in the evenings.

“In Solapur it seems the High Court has [made evening courts] optional,” added Rokade. She said she hoped that discussions would take place to resolve the issue.