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NT Bureau
Chennai, Jan 31:

        The Bar Council of Tamilnadu has planned to go on a State-wide strike on 2 February in protest against the Central government's proposal to bring legal profession within the ambit of service tax.

        Speaking to newsmen on the sidelines of the meeting of lawyers at High Court yesterday, chairman of the council Chandra Mohan said, 'around 60,000 lawyers of Tamilnadu and Puducherry would go on strike on the specified day to mark the denouncement of the proposal'.

        He also said bringing the legal profession in the service tax net was inappropriate as it would not be practically possible to keep a tab on their earnings and file their returns, as the payments made by their clients were irregular.

        He said that like any other tax assessee, lawyers too pay their income tax and it would not be proper to further tax them.

        The council has also planned to meet Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in a few days time to hand over a memorandum to solve the issue at once.

        Chandra Mohan cautioned that if things were not solved amicably before the Parliament's Budget session scheduled in coming days, the Bar Councils from all over the country would meet Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi and put forward their demands in person.