Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily Felicitates Mangalore Adv Seetharam Shetty

In a grand function that was organised by his Forty Juniors, Advocate Seetharam Shetty was Felicitated on completion of his Fifty Years' of Practice and his 75th Birthday, at TMA Pai Convention Centre, Mangalore.

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M Seetharama Shetty, well-known advocate, was felicitated by the Union Minister for Law and Justice Veerapa Moily on the occasion of his 75th birthday and completion of 50 years of exemplary legal service. The felicitation function was organized at the TMA Pai Convention Center by 40 of his junior advocates. At the function Honorable Union Minister Dr M Veerappa Moily, former Jugde of High Court of Karnataka Justice B N Mallikarjuna, Senior Advocate B V Acharya and IGP Gopal Hosur were present on the dais.

In his opening address Dr. Moily lauded the fact that the standard of the Mangalore Bar Association is higher as compared to other bar associations in the country. Listing out the legal achievements of Advocate Seetharam Shetty, he opined that Advocate Shetty has always been enthusiastic about his career as a criminal lawyer. Pointing out his excellent qualities, the minister said that such advocates are hard to find in today''s times. Moily felicitated Seetharam Shetty for his passionate service to society.

“The country is in need of a large number of skilled, efficient advocates urgently. We need about 15,000 judges including 280 for different High Courts. Because of the lack of excellent lawyers, the government finds it difficult to fill in vacancies, as the best lawyers need to become judges,” he said, pointing out that the country has a large number of information technology professionals and such professionals are also needed in the legal profession.

“We propose to create a large number of talented advocates through the second generation of legal education reforms. We propose to hold a national consensus in March this year, towards this end. The legal profession should be competitive. Curriculum in legal education needs some modifications, and more law schools where excellent education is provided, need to be opened,” Moily opined.

Former Karnataka High Court Judge, Justice B N Mallikarjuna, presided over the programme. Senior advocate, B V Acharya, and western range inspector general of police, Gopal B Hosur, participated as guests. 

Sources - Daijiworld Mangalore Today

LECTURE DELIVERED BY JUSTICE J S VERMA - From INDIAN EXPRESS

LECTURE DELIVERED BY JUSTICE J S VERMA AND PUBLISHED IN INDIAN EXPRESS FEBRUARY 4,2010
Source - indialawyers.wordpress

JUSTICE J S VERMA The recent response of the Delhi igh Court led by Chief Justice A.P. Shah in rejecting the tenuous stand of the Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan that the office of CJI and the Supreme Court are above the law (RTI Act) applicable to all public functionaries in our republican democracy, is to be hailed as a welcome blow for transparency and accountability, which are acknowledged principles of standards in public life… The decision first by a single judge, S. Ravindra Bhat’ affirmed on appeal by the full bench of the Delhi High Court is a glaring proof of judicial independence.


The observations of A.P Shah, C.J. speaking for the full bench that “Judicial independence is not the personal privilege of the individual judge’ but a responsibility cast on him”, provide a strong fillip to judicial independence. Chief Justice Shah has articulated the true concept of judicial independence, reiterating the modern view. He has echoed the words of Lord Woolf C.J. in an article wherein he said, “the independence of the judiciary is therefore not the property of the judiciary, but a commodity to be held by the judiciary in trust for the public”. It is time the Chief Justice of India takes the lead in this direction provided admirably by the High Court to bring quietus to the unsavoury controversy threatening judicial independence…


Let me hope that the Supreme Court led by the CJI will now accept the verdict in good grace and not appeal to itself to re-examine its obvious merit of the Delhi High Court judgment! Otherwise, we are bound to go down in the public estimation which would rightly conclude that we do not practice what we preach…


The Bar has a significant role in such a situation. I wish the Attorney General, G.E. Vahanvati’ who appears for the Supreme Court, draws inspiration from some of his illustrious predecessors to advise the CJI against a further appeal by the Supreme Court now to itself… I refrain from commenting on the Dinakaran issue since the proceedings seeking his removal have been commenced and are in progress…


Another issue relevant in this context is of the appointment of judges in the Supreme Court and the High Courts. Chief Justice Balakrishnan asserts that the collegium headed by him is strictly following the decision in the Second Judges case by which they are bound. The general perception voiced eloquently by the executive is that the executive has no part in making these appointments for which the judicial collegium alone is responsible and answerable. It is true that the veto power granted to the executive by the First Judges’ case, AIR 1982 SC 149 is taken away by the Second Judges’ case, AIR 1994 SC 268; but it is not correct that the executive has been denuded of all power in adjudging the suitability of the candidates for appointment. However, greater responsibility does lie in the judicial collegium because of its role under the existing system…


A brief reference to the Second Judges’ case is necessary… The clear language of the decision leaves no room for any doubt that the executive has a participatory role in these appointments; the opinion of the executive is weightier in the area of antecedents and personal character and conduct of the candidate; the power of non-appointment on this ground is expressly with the executive, notwithstanding the recommendation of the CJI; and that doubtful antecedents, etc., are alone sufficient for non-appointment by the executive. The decision also holds that the opinion of the judicial collegium, if not unanimous does not bind the executive to make the appointment…


Post-retirement conduct of the superior judges, particularly those of the Supreme Court is also relevant enough in this context to require mention.


In addition to the system providing for the appointment of persons of proven integrity as guardian of constitutional values, there is the need for constitutional safeguards to insulate them also from possible executive influence, through temptations in subtle ways, to preserve judicial independence. One such method to penetrate the resolve of even a few of the best is the temptation of lucrative post-retiral benefits given by the executive to a favoured few. The obverse of the constitutional guarantee of security of tenure and conditions of service is the obligation of such constitutional functionaries to the observance of a code of post-retiral conduct eschewing any such temptation. To the extent possible, the needed constitutional prohibitions should also be enacted, to enable the development of healthy conventions. The environment of eroding ethical values calls for this preventive measure. Some instances of post-retirement activity of judges of the Supreme Court (including the CJI) are attracting public disapproval, even if voiced privately. Chamber practice of giving written opinions by name to be used by litigants/parties before court/tribunal or any authority; arbitrations for high fees; doing arbitrations even while heading Commissions/Tribunals and availing the salary, perquisites and benefits of a sitting Judge/CJI are some activities inviting adverse comments and seen as eroding judicial independence. This too is a threat to judicial independence, which must be averted.

Extracts from the first S. Govind Swaminadhan Memorial Lecture at the Madras High Court on January 29, 2010

Law student’s journal finds place in ICJ - Indian Express

When a foreign law journal rejected an article he wrote in August 2007 because he had not obtained his law degree yet, Vikrant Pachnanda launched his own journal that is now subscribed by 30 Indian and 10 foreign law firms and libraries of about 25 law universities.

A copy even goes to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands.

Pachnanda was in second-year at the Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar, when he launched India Law Journal because he “wanted a publication that would accept law students’ articles”.

At present, the journal is a quarterly publication that has a circulation of roughly 250 for the hard copy and a sizable readership online at www.indialawjournal.com.

Most of the articles in the journal are topical and timely. “We mainly get financed through advertisements by various law firms, as many of their advocates contribute articles as well,” said Pachnanda, who is also the journal’s founder-director since its first edition in January 2008 and currently a fourth-year student of BA LLB at GNLU.


In its online edition, the journal carries a photograph of Pachnanda and a colleague posing with Danish Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen nine months before the Copenhagen climate change negotiations.

According to his classmate, Sunjay Khan, Pachnanda found out about a competition for students to submit their “proposals for an alternative Kyoto Protocol” that could be adopted at the COP 15.

The GNLU team made it to the top-12 and went to Copenhagen, where they met the Danish PM and the Climate Change Minister.

GNLU Director Bimal Patel attributed the team’s (and Pachnanda’s) initiatives which made it possible for the university to host Denmark’s Climate Change Minister for a panel discussion on its campus later this week.

The online form of the journal also displays an English translation of the original FIR submitted by Nand Lal Mehta about the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, filed at 5.45 pm on January 30, 1948, at the Tughlak Road Police Station, Delhi.

“As was the norm, the Mahatma greeted the people with folded hands. He had barely covered six or seven steps when a person, whose name I learnt later as Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a resident of Poona, stepped closer and fired three shots from a pistol at the Mahatma from barely 2/3 feet, which hit the Mahatma in his stomach and chest and blood started flowing. Mahatma ji fell backwards, uttering ‘Ram-Ram’,” reads the translation.


Source - Indian Express