Justice, as enshrined in the Constitution, is the aspiration of every citizen and it is the duty of every lawyer to connect to those seeking justice with empathy and passion.
Every lawyer should strive to fulfil this commitment with honesty, dignity, fearlessness, incorruptibility, and freedom from powers, pressure or any form of inducements, Gopal Subramanium, former Solicitor General of India and amicus curiae appointed by the Supreme Court in the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple case, said here.
He was speaking at a function organised by the Kerala Lawyers’ Club on Saturday to confer the second Pirappancode Sreedharan Nair award on him as a “lawyer of eminence with social commitment”.
The award, carrying a cash prize of Rs.1 lakh and citation, was presented to Mr. Subramanium by Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan.
Words of praiseDedicating the award to the memory of the late V.R. Krishna Iyer, who was one of his formative influences when he began his career as a young lawyer, Mr. Subramanium said there were few like Iyer, whose personality, moral conscience, selflessness, and compassion for the poor was enough to elevate the conscience and stature of courts.
It was not enough to have values, character, and virtue but one should also have the strength, ability, and the endurance to face the consequences of holding on to those values. “Because when one makes choices based on values and reason, unpleasant consequences were bound to follow,” Mr. Subramanium said.
“In the material world of the day, the fact that 60 per cent of the national income is believed to be reaching 10 per cent of the population should awaken the conscience of society and our obligation to those who do not have access to either resources or the power these resources bring,” he said. Without the sacrifices and courage of those like Iyer and Nani Palkhivala, there would have been no upholding of the law, especially in a pluralistic society, where elements of feudalism still rules and there is a natural gravitation towards the power that be, he pointed out.
ScholarshipMr. Subramanium returned the cash award to the Kerala Lawyers Club so that a merit scholarship be instituted for students.
Mr. Achuthanandan said accusations and revelations of corruption had in recent times weakened the judiciary, one of the formidable pillars of democracy. The judiciary, including lawyers and judges, should remember that the ordinary citizen’s right to speedy justice was being thwarted when cases piled up in courts.
