Since going live with the laptop scheme three weeks ago the Bar Council has already sold 150 Dell I3 laptops to advocates throughout the state at a price of Rs 23,400, which is a significant reduction of the retail price of Rs 35,000 to Rs 37,000, said Bhosale.

He added that after pamphlets were dispatched to local bar associations there had been strong interest. “A lot of juniors are interested because it is made available at a very cheap price.”

There were only 50 laptops left in the scheme but the Bar Council, which had pre-paid for 100 of the laptops to hold on stock for sale to advocates, would consider repeating the initiative.

Significantly discounted advocates’ subscriptions to the Bombay Case Reporter legal database have also been made available for Rs 6,600, which is understood to be a saving of at least 80 per cent on the retail price.

Bhosale had first floated the technology initiatives in August 2010 as reported by Legally India at the time, including outfitting the Bombay High Court with wireless internet, overhauling its website and creating a database of the state’s lawyers.

Those initiatives were now approved in principle by the council and it had settled on a technology provider to overhaul its website and would enter into a contract shortly to create an online-accessible database of all Maharashtra and Goa advocates, enable online enrolment of advocates and more.

Those interested in the schemes can collect application forms from the office of the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa or from the “guardian member” of the concerned district for the scheme.

The application form is also available for download here.

Photo by Ghindo