PM TO BAR ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

PM addresses the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Bar Association of India.
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11:55 IST
The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, addressed the Golden Jubilee National Conference on ‘Law & Governance’ of the Bar Association of India in New Delhi today. Following is the text of the Prime Minister’s inaugural address on the occasion:

“It gives me great pleasure to participate in the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Bar Association of India. The Association has always maintained very high standards of professional ethics and values. I applaud its achievements and congratulate all those who have been associated with it.

Your Association has served the country with great distinction in the past fifty years. But I venture to think and pray that the next fifty years should be still more productive in the service of the people of this great country. The Bar Association of India has, as Lalit pointed out, a glorious history. It was inaugurated by the then President of India the great Dr. Rajendra Prasad fifty years ago in the presence of our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the then Chief Justice of India and many stalwarts of the legal profession whose names are held in the highest esteem even to this day. Shri M.C. Setalvad, the first Attorney-General of India was the first President of the Association and together with the illustrious Dr K. M Munshi and Shri C.K. Daphtary and others framed its constitution. At the inaugural function Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru said “all these new problems come and these problems can be decided certainly, as far as lawyers are concerned, by specialized training and also by a certain amount of wisdom and a certain understanding of those problems, apart even from their judicial significance, because life is an integrated thing. You cannot separate it in compartments, some part of life meant only for lawyers and judges and some other part meant for somebody else. That is not so. In real life they all overlap and in a changing phase of society it becomes so necessary to have some integrated understanding of these various developments so as to be able to deal with it.” With great humility and reverence I echo the same sentiments.

The role of the members of the legal fraternity is not confined to Courts alone or advising the clients in their business deals. It extends to being an integral part of our system of administration of justice – and justice not just in the legal sense but justice - social, economic and political as set out in the preamble of our magnificent Constitution. The members of legal fraternity in our country have historically contributed handsomely to each of these areas of justice – whether it was the struggle for our independence or the framing of our Constitution or working of government. Even today in the Cabinet we have some outstanding legal luminaries some of whom have been members of this illustrious Association.

The Bar Association too has a larger objective beyond the furtherance of professional interests of its members. It aims at promoting public and national welfare in manifold directions and in upholding the Constitution of India and the Rule of Law. One of the most outstanding features of the activities of this Association is its commitment to society, especially the less privileged sections. It is gratifying to note that it has contributed significantly at the time of natural and manmade calamities like the Latoor and Bhuj earthquakes and the Tsunami. The Association also performed yeoman services in providing legal aid to families of martyrs in the Kargil war.

The theme of your conference -- Law and Governance -- covers a complex relationship. The deliberations in this conference will explore how the practice of law has evolved over time and its interplay with political, social and economic developments, the socio-legal processes that deter or provide access to justice and above all the necessary legal pre-requisites of good governance.

It has been said that justice delayed is justice denied. In this context it is important that concerted cooperative efforts are made by the government, the judiciary and the Bar Association to deal with the mounting arrears in our courts and the growing cost of litigation. Equality before law cannot become a living reality if ordinary citizens cannot have access to justice at affordable cost. The plight of the large number of under trial prisoners in our jails should move the machinery of justice to speedy corrective measures as part of the process of reforming and improving the quality of governance in our country.

I have been told that one of the important sessions of your conference will be devoted to Law and the Separation of Powers. The doctrine of “separation of powers” is acknowledged as one of the basic features of our Constitution. It is also commonly agreed that all the three organs of the State, i.e., the Legislature, the Judiciary, and the Executive are bound by and subject to the provisions of the Constitution, which demarcates their respective powers, jurisdictions, responsibilities and relationship with one another. It is to be assumed that neither of the three organs of the State, whether it is the judiciary or the executive or the legislature, would exceed its powers as laid down in the Constitution. Even though their jurisdictions may be separated and demarcated, it is essential that all institutions work in harmony and in tandem to maximize the public good. I hope there will be meaningful and productive discussions in this conference and that other important subjects like funding of elections and law and education will also merit your attention.

Let me conclude by wishing the conference all success. I also wish the Bar Association of India all the very best in the years to come. I am sure the deliberations in this conference will be productive and contribute to strengthening both the law and governance for the benefit of the common citizen of our country. May your path be blessed.”