This story is from May 5, 2008

Integrity of judges, lawyers vital

A huge majority of judges possess impeccable integrity. But public faith in judiciary gets dented when misdeeds of even one black sheep among them get reported.
Integrity of judges, lawyers vital
Law, rights flowing from it, litigants, lawyers and judges complete the chain that pulls the wheels of justice. The litigants��� ride on the path to justice depends on the driveway laid by the law and the ability and expertise of lawyers and judges to drive the vehicle of justice (courts).
Purity of justice depends on the lawyers ��� and the ways and means adopted by them to assist the courts in reaching a just conclusion ��� and the judges, who need to hear the faintest cry for justice and detect truth from a truck-load of trash.

Honesty and integrity of both lawyers and judges are vital to the health of the justice delivery system. That is why the legal practice has traditionally been regarded as a "noble profession" and judges considered the embodiment of justice and referred to as "My Lords".
The recent spate of demands for transparency and accountability in judiciary had centred around making judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, including the Chief Justice of India, answerable to queries under the Right to Information Act. It is justified keeping in view the faith public reposes in the judiciary.
A huge majority of judges are upright and possess impeccable integrity. But public faith in judiciary gets dented when misdeeds of even one black sheep among them get reported and talked about.
Who creates these black sheep in the judiciary? Who provides them the fodder? Can a judge be corrupted without the aid of lawyers involved in a case that set off such alarms?
An interesting narration came from a pained judge. "If a senior advocate seeks an audience with a judge at his

residence, it is generally consented to as senior advocates are not only the conscience keepers of the bar, but also help the bench rectify its mistakes by pointing them out," the judge said.
"If such a lawyer comes for the meeting, leaves two of his clients in the car outside the judge���s residence and carries on with the meeting prior to a scheduled hearing before the judge, what message will he be driving home to the waiting litigants," he added. Well, no prizes for guessing the message for the clients.
Fortunately for the system, this category of senior advocates and lawyers form but a minuscule part of the largest bar that India boasts of. But the litigants, who get the ���message��� through this innovative way, spread it far and wide giving credence to a lurking suspicion about the purity of justice among those who lose out in the courts.
More than 45 years ago, on December 15, 1962, the Rio de Janeiro Congress of the International Commission of Jurists, attended by 300 jurists from 75 countries, had in all seriousness discussed the role of lawyers in a changing world.
The world of legal practice has undergone a sea of change since then but the resolution passed in 1962 still holds good. It had saddled upon lawyers the duty to promote knowledge of the rule of law and asked the advocate associations to monitor lawyers��� standards of ethics.
Both these aspects have received lukewarm response from lawyers��� bodies in India, though similar views were endorsed in the ���Declaration of Delhi��� adopted by the Commission in December, 1959.
Little has been done by lawyers��� bodies, even the statutory regulatory body ��� Bar Council of India (BCI) ��� to help a helpless section of judges and litigants harbouring the feeling of being cheated by the advocates.
The lawyers��� bodies have a definite role to play in dispensing unadulterated justice. The majority definitely have a role in shutting out the minuscule mavericks who are a blot on the noble profession and carry the spoils to the judges to pollute the stream of justice.
dhananjay.mahapatra@timesgroup.com
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