Read Time: 16 minutes

Synopsis

The Supreme Court recently underscored the role of advocates in taking up the responsibility of rendering assistance to both the court as well as the litigant, particularly those with limited means, and to collectively assist in ensuring that the litigant before a court has an assurance of having secured justice at the hands of the courts and particularly from the apex court.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma observed, "Amidst the rapid commercialisation and competition which the legal profession has fallen prey to, it remains a rare joy to have the assistance of advocates, as in the present case, still holding strong the original and core values attached to the legal profession, which is to lend their noble services to an aggrieved litigant before the court-not by acting as soldiers on behalf of their clients, but by merely being the bridges of communication and peace between the stakeholders in litigation, i.e., the petitioners and the respondents in a case and by rendering assistance to the bench, so that dispensation of justice in a court of law does not eventually become a zero-sum game".

The court dealt with the role of advocates in rendering services while awarding Rs 20 lakh to 73-year-old litigant Shankar Lal Sharma from respondent Rajesh Koolwal and others as a full and final settlement of his claims.

Referring to the case of State of UP Vs UP State Law Officers Association (1994), the bench pointed out that the legal profession has historically been a service oriented profession and the ancestor of today’s lawyer was no more than a spokesman who rendered his services to the needy members of the society by articulating their case before the courts and authorities that be. The services were rendered without regard to the remuneration received or to be received.

"With the passage of time and the spiraling of litigation, advocacy has become a full-time occupation and most of the lawyers came to depend upon it as the sole source of livelihood," the bench said.

The bench pointed out that a number of times it had come across litigants before courts who appeared in-person to prosecute or contest their own cases. Despite the availability of free legal aid facilities in courts, they tend to take the pains of drafting their own petitions, completing cumbersome legal procedures and appearing before the courts to deal with complex legal argumentation. While one of the reasons for this may be the lack of awareness about the availability of legal aid services, for reasons best known to such litigants they do not engage legal professionals, the bench said.

In a message of new generation lawyers, the bench felt young advocates joining the bar must volunteer to assist the litigants who cannot engage the services of a counsel due to lack of means or awareness whenever an opportunity presents itself.

"Moreover, they should render the best legal assistance to the litigant without any expectation in return for their professional services. By these gestures of volunteering to represent indigent litigants, advocates can collectively make a statement to the society at large that the legal profession stands for the right to have access to justice and equality before law, not just in theory but in practice too," the court said.

Court further said such efforts of advocates, though in an individual capacity but acting towards a common objective of bringing an amicable quietus to the litigation, would send out a message that counsel are not hinderances in the process of parties reaching a mutually agreeable settlement, particularly in labour and matrimonial matters.

They can also effectively play their parts in helping the parties end their disputes, and add positively to the alternate dispute mechanisms like mediation and conciliation. These are opportunities to make meaningful contributions to the society, and as a result the legal profession as a whole would gain the goodwill of the society in general and indigent litigants in particular, the bench said.

The court cited Prof Karen Thalacker, who rightly summed up in her book ‘The New Lawyer’s Handbook: 101 Things They Don’t Teach You in Law School’ while advising young advocates to donate their legal skills for community purposes: “Serving others fills a hole in you that you might not even know you have. The discovery that you make is that even though you volunteer to show these organisation show important they are, the end result is that you getmore than you ever give.”

The bench felt it is high time this spirit is imbibed by the members of the bar in general and particularly the younger advocates.

The bench commended advocate Sanchar Anand, who dedicatedly appeared before the court during the two years without receiving a penny from the petitioner to not just represent the litigant but also to assist the court in reaching a just and proper conclusion to the case at hand.

Eventually, he has been successful in convincing the petitioner to accept the suggestions made by this court and by the counsel for the respondent, and the petitioner has been cooperative to rest his claim on merits in lieu of receipt of the amount of money being agreed to be paid by the respondent as directed, the bench said.

What the effort from the advocate signifies is that access to justice before the highest court of the country is not bound by the shackles of lack of financial resources, court stressed.

Persons from all classes, etc who wish to approach this court with their grievance must be provided with necessary assistance by the responsible members of the bar, without increasing the cost of litigation for the party or unnecessarily delaying the process, it said.

"This is a welcome change from the trend being witnessed in our court rooms, where the litigants located in far corners of this country have to shell out humongous sums of money in the name of professional fees for engagement of top echelons of the legal profession, particularly when the matters do not progress on a particular day," the bench said.

In lieu of their expectations for the constitutionally guaranteed right to justice at the hands of this court, they are often handed over a document that reads on top as ‘Record of Proceedings’ and which acts as a means of justifying the professional fees, without there being any substantial relief for the party concerned. The message that eventually spreads amongst the litigant public is that a hearing in this court is available only to those who have the wherewithal and can withstand the financial pressure arising from their litigation apart from the uncertainty of the result and that the doors of justice may be inaccessible for others who can ill-afford topay such high fees to lawyers, the bench said.

"We must reiterate that this misconception is required to be broken. The duty to provide ease of access to justice rests upon every member of the legal profession and the requisite message needs to be disseminated from the portals and corridors of this court in the first instance in both letter and spirit. The enduring service of the learned amicus curiae in the present case is a poignant step in that direction," the bench said.

As a token of appreciation of the services rendered by Sanchar Anand, the court requested the respondents to pay a sum of Rs One Lakh only, to amicus curiae Sanchar Anand.

The court also appreciated the change of mind on the part of the petitioner, who was aged 73 years and who was a person of low vision and suffering from multiple ailments, in deciding to put an end to the litigation by accepting the offer of the respondents.

Case Title: Shankar Lal Sharma Vs Rajesh Koolwal & Ors