QUOTES

THE HONOURABLE MRS.JUSTICE R.BANUMATHI AND THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.M.SUNDRESH of Madras High Court in a case of 2010 “Law is the cement of the society and an essential medium of change. It is said "Law is the king of kings, far more rigid and powerful than the kings. Nothing can be mightier than law by whose aid as by that of the highest monarch, even a weak may prevail over the strong." Rule of Law is the basic foundation of a democratic society………….A lawyer is a guardian of rule of law. The father of the nation described a lawyer as thus: A lawyer is the salt of the nation…….. A good legal education is a sine quo non for creating a good lawyer. Such a legal education is the basis and foundation for creating a good and competent Judge as well………. It is said, 'Legal Education is essentially a multi-disciplined, multi-purpose education which can develop the human resources and idealism needed to strengthen the legal system.... A lawyer, a product of such education would be able to contribute to national development and social change in a much more constructive manner.'


In J.S.Jadhav v. Mustafa Haji Mohammed Yusuf (AIR 1993 SC 1535), the Honourable Apex Court has defined legal profession as follows: Advocacy is not a craft but a calling; a profession wherein devotion to duty constitutes the hallmark. Sincerity of performance and the earnestness of endeavour are the two wings that will bar aloft the advocate to the tower of success. Given these virtues other qualifications will follow of their own account. This is the reason why legal profession is regarded to be a noble one. But it cannot be allowed to become a sorriest of trades.

Sanjiv Bitta v. Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (1995 (3) SCC 619), the Honourable Apex Court observed as follows: It is in the hands of the members of the legal profession to improve the quality of the service they render both to the litigant public and to the courts, and to brighten their image in the society. The legal profession is a solemn and serious occupation. It is noble calling and all those who belong to it are its honourable members. The legal profession is different from other professions in that what the lawyers do, affects not only an individual but also the administration of justice, which is the foundation of the civilised society. It must not be forgotten that the legal profession has always been held in high esteem and its members have played an enviable role in public life.

Sri.Dr.C.Radhakrishnan, the first vice-president of Republic India, has lamented thus: Our Colleges of law do not hold a place of high esteem either at home or abroad, nor has law become an arena of profound scholarship and enlightened research.



THE HONBLE JUSTICE Mr. M.Y. EQBAL, CHIEF JUSTICE of Madras High Court in the case of A.K. Balaji vs Australia on 21 February, 2012 The legal expertise available in India is of International standard and such foreign companies would not hesitate to avail the services of Indian lawyers. Therefore, the need to make India as a preferred seat for International Commercial Arbitration would benefit the economy of the country.

Bar Council Of Maharashtra vs M. V. Dabholkar AIR 1976 SC 242 The rule of law cannot be built on the ruins of democracy for where law ends tyranny begins. If such be the keynote thought for the very survival of our Republic, the integral bond between the lawyer and the public is unbreakable. And the vital role of the lawyer depends upon his probity and professional life style. Be it remembered that the central function of the legal profession is to promote the administration of justice. If the practice of law is thus a public utility of great implications and a monopoly is statutorily granted by the nation, it obligates the lawyer to observe scrupulously those norms which make him worthy of the confidence of the community in him as a vehicle of justice-social justice. The Bar cannot behave with doubtful scruples or strive to thrive on litigation. Canons of conduct cannot be crystalised into rigid rules but felt by the collective conscience of the practitioners as right.


In the words of Justice Krishna Iyer in Bar Council of Maharashtra v. M. V. Dabholkar AIR 1976 SC 242 the role of the members of the Bar can be appreciated. He said: "The Bar is not a private guilt, like that of barbers, butchers and candlestick-makers' but, by bold contrast, a public institution committed to public justice and pro bono publico service. The grant of a monopoly licence to practice law is based on three assumptions: (1) There is a socially useful function for the lawyer to perform, (2) The lawyer is a professional person who will perform that function, and (3) His performance as a professional person is regulated by himself and more formally, by the profession as a whole. The central function that the legal profession must perform is nothing less than the administration of justice.


JUSTICE R.P. SETHI in the case of Ramon Services Pvt. Ltd vs Subhash Kapoor And Others (2000) SC:- The profession by and large, till date has undoubtedly performed its duties and obligations and has never hesitated to shoulder its responsibilities in larger interests of the mankind. The lawyers, who have been acknowledged being sober, task oriented, professionally responsible stratum of the population, are further obliged to utilise their skills for socio-political modernization of the country. The lawyers are a force for the preservance and strengthening of constitutional government as they are guardians of the modern legal system. After independence the concept of social justice has become a part of our legal system. This concept gives meaning and significance to the democratic ways of life and of making the life dynamic. The concept of welfare state would remain in oblivion unless social justice is dispensed with. Dispensation of social justice and achieving the goals set forth in the constitution are not possible without the active, concerted and dynamic efforts made by the person concerned with the justice dispensation system. The prevailing ailing socio- economic-political system in the country needs treatment which can immediately be provided by judicial incision. Such a surgery is impossible to be performed unless the Bench and the Bar make concerted effort. The role of the members of the Bar has thus assumed great importance in the post independent era in the country. Generally strikes are antithesis of the progress, prosperity and development.


In Pandurang Dattatraya Khandekar v. Bar Council of Maharashtra Bombay & Others [1984 (2) SCC 556] it was observed that, "An advocate stands in a loco parentis towards the litigants. Therefore, he is expected to follow norms of professional ethics and try to protect the interests of his client in relation to whom he occupies a position of trust. Counsel's paramount duty is to the client. The client is entitled to receive disinterested, sincere and honest treatment"


In Re: Sanjiv Datta, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Information & BroadCasting, New Delhi, etc. [1995 (3) SCC 619 held: The legal profession is a solemn and serious occupation. It is a noble calling and all those who belong to it are its honourable members. Although the entry to the profession can be had by acquiring merely the qualification of technical competence, the honour as a professional has to be maintained by its members by their exemplary conduct both in and outside the court. The legal profession is different from other professions in that what the lawyers do, affects not only an individual but the administration of justice which is the foundation of the civilised society. Both as a leading member of the intelligentsia of the society and as a responsible citizen, the lawyer has to conduct himself as a model for others both in his professional and in his private and public life. The society has a right to expect of him such ideal behaviour. It must not be forgotten that the legal profession has always been held in high esteem and its members have played an enviable role in public life. The regard for the legal and judicial systems in this country is in no small measure due to the tireless role played by the stalwarts in the profession to strengthen them. They took their profession seriously and practised it with dignity, deference and devotion. If the profession is to survive, the judicial system has to be vitalised. No service will be too small in making the system efficient, effective and credible. The casualness and indifference with which some members practise the profession are certainly not calculated to achieve that purpose or to enhance the prestige either of the profession or of the institution they are serving. If people lose confidence in the profession on account of the deviant ways of some of its members, it is not only the profession which will suffer but also the administration of justice as a whole. The present trend unless checked is likely to lead to a stage when the system will be found wrecked from within before it is wrecked from outside. It is for the members of the profession to introspect and take the corrective steps in time and also spare the courts the unpleasant duty. We say no more."

Apex Court in S. P. Anand Indore v. H.D. Devegowda and Ors., 1996 (8) SCALE Page 191 ………….litigants who can lay no claim to have expert knowledge in that field should refrain from filing petitions, which if we may say so, are often drafted in a casual and cavalier fashion giving an extempore appearance not having had even a second look. This is the impression that one gets on reading the present petition. It is of utmost importance that those who invoke this Court's jurisdiction seeking a waiver of the locus standi rule must exercise restraint in moving the Court by not plunging in areas wherein they are not well-versed. Such a litigant must not succumb to spasmodic sentiments and behave like a knight-errant roaming at will in pursuit of issues providing publicity. He must remember that as a person seeking to espouse a public cause, he owes it to the public as well as to the court that he does not rush to court without undertaking a research, even if he is qualified or competent to raise the issue. Besides, it must be remembered that a good cause can be lost if petitions are filed on half-baked information without proper research or by persons who are not qualified and competent to raise such issues as the rejection of such a petition may affect third party rights. Lastly, it must also be borne in mind that no one has a right to the waiver of the locus standi rule and the court should permit it only when it is satisfied that the carriage of proceedings is in the competent hands of a person who is genuinely concerned in public interest and is not moved by other extraneous considerations. So also the court must be careful to ensure that the process of the Court is not sought to be abused by a person who desires to persist with his point of view, almost carrying it to the point of obstinacy, by filling a series of petitions refusing to accept the Court's earlier decisions as concluding the point. We say this because when we drew the attention of the petitioner to earlier decisions of this Court, he brushed them aside, without so much as showing willingness to deal with them and without giving them a second look, as having become stale and irrelevant by passage of time and challenged their correctness on the specious plea that they needed reconsideration. Except for saying that they needed reconsideration he had no answer to the correctness of the decisions. Such a casual approach to considered decisions of this Court even by a person well-versed in law would not be countenanced. Instead, as pointed out earlier, he referred to decisions having no bearing on the question, like the decisions on cow slaughter cases, freedom of speech and expresssion, uniform civil code, etc., we need say no more except to point out that indiscriminate of this important lever of public interest litigation would blunt the lever itself.



Hon'ble the Chief Justice Gajendra Gadkar. In his speech on the subject, 'Law, Lawyers & Judges' in an inaugral address of centenary celebrations of the Advocates Association of Western India, at Bombay on October 12, 1963, while advocating for ethical school of law, his Lordship said, "Every day before the proceedings commence when Judges and Lawyers bow before that seat of Justice, it is necessary that each one of us should remember that we discharge in the Court room it the sole on task of search of truth. Ethical considerations of the highest order cannot be eliminated from our courts, for in a sense, that work is the work of worship in the temples of justice."


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