Chief Justice of India T S Thakur today asked the Bar Council of India (BCI), the apex body of lawyers, to crack the whip on law colleges which lack appropriate infrastructure by shutting them down.
“There are law colleges where you may not have faculty, no library or where attendance will not be marked. I believe there are law colleges where you have to just go and pay the fees, the rest is taken care off.
“How can a legal profession or how can you tolerate this kind of situation? I believe this is a great responsibility cast upon the Bar Council of India (BCI) and bar councils to shut down such shops. I am sure that the admission standards will be raised,” Justice Thakur said.
Calling it a challenge for the BCI to remove lawyers who bring disrepute to the legal profession, the CJI said there are some people who enter the field just because it adds respectability.
“Unwanted and unprofessional members in the bar and their isolation and removal are also a challenge. I can assure that the real core of the profession is very good. But there are some people who enter into this profession because it adds respectability.
“…I think one of the challenges that you have to take immediately is that you must identify and weed out such elements so that the bar remains in its pristine glory, in its purest form… So that only the professions remains,” he said during a felicitation ceremony at Bar Council of India.
The CJI said disciplinary control over members of the bar is very important and suggested that an independent tribunal could be appointed for action against lawyers.
“So you (BCI) need to deal with such elements very very seriously. Appointing a tribunal for disciplinary action can be one such thing. If you have five lawyers sitting to decide disciplinary action against another lawyer, it will be embarrassing. Why should you face that embarrassment? Why not have independent tribunal for the action which you (BCI) say can’t be tolerated at any cost?” Justice Thakur asked.
