Lawyers must be forerunners in upholding law and justice in society. In order to uphold the honour and dignity of the legal profession, serious action must be taken to weed out the fake lawyers across the country, said retired Madras High Court Judge Justice N. Kirubakaran on Sunday.
He was speaking at a law seminar organised by the Dindigul Lawyers’ Association here.
“There are 1,715 law colleges across the country now, which is definitely more than necessary now since the quality is diluted, from which 1 lakh lawyers are graduating every year. But we need to think if there is adequate work for them, since 2.5% of the lawyer population only went to courts, according to a recent report. There are more than 4 crore pending cases, of which 85% is still in lower courts (district and taluk courts) of India,” he said. In order to streamline this, efficient lawyers are essential, he said and called for joint efforts to eradicate fake lawyers.
“The biggest challenge is to deal with the fake lawyers, who would indulge in illegal ‘katta panchayat’ and other malpractices. According to Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, more than 30% out of the total 11.4 lakh lawyers in the country is fake (as of 2015),” noted Mr. Kirubakaran.
He added that there are even instances where defaulters and accused have taken to become fake lawyers.
Further, he called for the authorities to make public the data of the students and teaching staff in the law colleges on the internet to eliminate irregularities.
A total of 10 resolutions were passed in the seminar, out of which installing biometric attendance was mandated which would bring to light how many are “getting degrees without even attending colleges,” which is a sad state of affairs, said Mr. Kirubakaran.
Association’s president V. Moorthy, secretary N. Kumaresan, treasurer S. Kamakshi, senior counsel N. Krishnaveni, senior counsel N. Jothi and others were present.
