Paul Kanagaraj elected Madras High Court Advocates Association president

CHENNAI: R C Paul Kanagaraj, a senior member of the Bar and former president of Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA), made a comeback on Thursday, when he was elected again as president of the MHAA, one of the country's largest associations for lawyers.

A BJP functionary, who headed the party’s legal wing till a few months ago, Paul Kanagaraj has more than 30 years of experience at the Bar.While he won the election by securing 1,892 votes, advocates S Arivazhagan and G Rajesh have been elected as secretary and treasurer, respectively.A day after winning the election, Paul Kanagaraj met Chief Justice of the Madras high court, Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari, and submitted a representation alleging that advocates were being illegally prevented from accompanying clients to police stations.“It has come to our notice that in view of an oral direction issued by the Chennai police commissioner, advocates are being prevented from accompanying their clients and making representations with the office of the police commissioner and other police stations. Such restrictions are enforced informally, resulting in denial of access to advocates in the course of their professional duties,” he said.“Such prevention violates the rights conferred to lawyers under the Advocates Act, 1961, and confirmed by the Supreme Court in the Nandini Satpathy case,” he said and sought the intervention of the Chief Justice in the issue.“Every citizen has the right to legal counsel. Every advocate has the right to practise. We urge the HC to issue directions restoring this fundamental right,” he said in a representation submitted to the Chief Justice.