Indian Judicial Service and Indian Legal Service on the anvil - TOI News

The Centre is finalising creation of two new all-India services -- Indian Judicial Service (IJS) and Indian Legal Service (ILS) -- to fulfil its promise to create 15,000 additional courts by 2012 and meet the demand for services of legal professionals from various departments of the Union and state governments.

"We will create two all-India services -- IJS and ILS -- mainly aimed at capacity building at the lower levels of judiciary and to provide professional legal advice to various departments," law minister M Veerappa Moily told TOI.

Though he was tight-lipped about the timeframe of the plan, the minister said the IJS would help attract talent from all over the country for appointment at the sessions judge level.

The ministry's Vision Document prepared last year had promised creation of 15,000 posts of judges for two years to tackle the huge backlog of nearly 2.5 crore cases in the trial courts. But, with that apparently not working out, the government is keen to add to the number of nearly 17,000 existing trial court judges by creating the IJS.

Explaining the need for ILS, the law minister said there was dearth of professional legal hands in various departments of the state governments and the Centre when it comes to seeking legal opinion on various day-to-day issues.

"On complex and constitutional issues, the Centre has the Attorney General, Solicitor General and a team of additional solicitors general to seek opinion from. The states too have the advocate general and a team of legal professionals. But they being required to attend the courts daily hardly have time to give opinions on all issues on the plate of various departments. Hence, creation of an all-India legal service would fill the void," he said.

The first law commission had proposed setting up of an All India Judicial Service, but the proposal was shot down in the law ministers' meeting in 1960. The All India Services Act, 1951, was amended in 1963 to include five more services other than IAS, IFS and IPS. However, by the Constitution 44th Amendment in 1976, it was provided in Article 312 that Parliament may by law provide for creation of one or more all-India service (including an All-India Judicial Service) common to Union and states.

A decade later in 1986, the law commission by its 116th report by then chairperson D A Desai to the Centre proposed a detailed draft of an All-India Judicial Service saying "what was considered unnecessary in 1946, after a lapse of three decades became a compelling necessity. And it does not require long arguments or a detailed analysis to reach the conclusion that a service organisation on an all-India level attracting talent from whole country would provide more competent service than the service organized at state level".

It is to be seen whether after 25 years of the law commission recommendation and several departmental proposals, the Centre would be able to put in place the two new all-India services.


Read more: Govt to create two new all-India services to meet legal demand - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Govt-to-create-two-new-all-India-services-to-meet-legal-demand/articleshow/6873044.cms#ixzz14nWV5omj

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.

Mangaloremithr.com - Advocates-like-Seetharam-Shetty-hard-to-find---Veerappa-Moily

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