Voicing concerns over the state of legal education and entry of unscrupulous elements into the profession, Supreme Court judge Justice FM Ibrahim Khaliffulla on Saturday said the Bar Council had a key role to play in ensuring high standards.
He suggested a four-fold measure - quality legal education, eliminating unscrupulous elements from being enrolled as advocates, making available right set of materials for lawyers to excel and protection to the legal fraternity - to address the issues.
The Bar Council shall play a key role by setting up an academic council to update on legal issues for the benefit of the younger generation of lawyers, he said at the inauguration of a new building for the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in Chennai. Madras High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said the Council had a duty to ensure that young lawyers came out with integrity.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the state of legal education in the country, he noted that there was paucity of teachers.
Justice C Nagappan, also of the apex court, said prompt steps should be taken to provide proper quality of legal education. He said legal profession should become people-oriented and "serve as healers of human conflicts and suffering." TN and Puducherry Bar Council Chairman Selvam welcomed the gathering. Judges of the High Court and S Prabhakaran, member of Bar Council of India, participated in the function.
