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The Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra will deduct one day’s salary from BCI staff “below the rank of assistant secretary” and “sweepers or other outsourced employees” who are caught using lifts at the BCI’s Rouse Avenue office in Delhi.

Outsiders “below 50 years of age” who were not “Learned Advocates & Hon’ble Judges” or “”not unwell or disabled”, “may be required to pay a sum of Rs. 50/- for us of lift”, according to the notice.

“Sweepers and outsourced employees” using the lift would have one day’s salary deducted, while staff members below the rank of assistant secretary would be marked absent for the entire day they dared take a trip on the lift.

The notice has begun going viral, after having been posted on Facebook and Twitter.

One user, @roshankar, who tweeted the notice, has seen 583 retweets and 149 likes at the time of going to press:

Bar Council of India, ladies and gentlemen. Don’t know where they find moral authority to defend the constitution.

Another user, @ARangarajan1972, with 33 retweets and 24 likes, tweeted this:

What appalling, filthy nonsense is this. The BCI Chairman should be SACKED at once. Sickening.

User @SinSinWati tweeted:

Does the sweeper’s air pollute the holy halo of the BCI chairman? He should protect it further, sit at home.

@whirlingdervesh tweeted:

Dear BCI Withdraw this notice, apologize and spare us the embarrassment.

@FarziVakeel tweeted:

So the BCI’s top two priorities: 1) Whether girls wear shorts in college. 2) Whether workers and sweepers use the lifts in Courts

Comedian @mojorojo, who has 964,000 followers on the social network, tweeted:

Ah the building lift. That great, daily, unspoken refuge of Indian classism.

Other users were less parliamentary in their language.

Meanwhile, law minister Sadananda Gowda tweeted from a bar council function in Dehradun today, at which Mishra and others are present:

At #Deheradun inagurating a program by Bar Council of Deheradun. Training to Students and Lawyers. It is the function of Bar council of India the State bar councils to impart proper training and learning to the young and working advocates.


Democracy is our heart andsoul.we have resolved to secure to all citizens, justice, social, economic and political liberty and equality.

It is the function of Bar council of India the State bar councils to impart proper training and learning to the young and working advocates

I am confident that the Barcouncil of india will ensure that legal profession becomes the beacon light of our society 1/2

And policy and provides a helping hand to the poor and needy. #Dehradun Bar Council 2/2

on the dais today in Dehradun”)

The notice

The 12 April 2016 note “by Order of Chairman, BCI”, and signed by BCI joint secretary Ashok Kumar Pandey, reads:

1) Any staff member below the rank of Assistant Secretary or below 50 years of age (or is not unwell or disabled), if found using ‘LIFT’, shall loose his her attendance for that day.

2) Sweepers or other outsourced employees, if found using lift by any Hon’ble Member/staff of Bar Council of India, his one day salary shall be deducted from his account by Accounts Department.

3) Outsiders (except Learned advocates & Hon’ble Judges) are not allowed to use Lift. If any outsider, below 50 years of age (or not unwell or disabled), found using Lift, he/she may be required to pay a sum of Rs 50/- for use of lift.

Mishra did not respond to an email seeking comment on the order.

The BCI has a good track record in arbitrary decision making

He, however, earlier this week did respond to an email from us seeking comment on another news item of the BCI’s arbitrary policies, which we have published along with a contest: draft a suitable reply and we will publish it on Legally India, send it to Mishra anonymously and you will win a year’s subscription to the top tier of Legally India premium subscriber programme.