New Delhi: The delay in justice delivery is a world-wide problem and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms, like arbitration, can be the cure to the malady, Supreme Court judge Justice Altamas Kabir has said.
“People involved in business or commerce would rather go in for arbitration than to the regular courts, this is the change in thinking. The reason is dispensation of justice quickly, which is one of the most important problems, not only in India but the world over,” said Justice Kabir, addressing a conference here. “People or businessmen do not mind an adverse judgement, all they want is to get it over with quickly so that they can move on, rather than have things hanging over their heads,” he said. The apex court judge was speaking on the theme of ‘Legal Trends, Thoughts and Times’ at the 22nd Annual Conference of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA), which was also attended by Union Minister for Corporate Affairs Veerappa Moily.
He pointed out that the legal profession has changed a lot now from when he had joined it. “Not much importance was given to the study of law.
Basic idea was to get a degree so as to get a better salary or a promotion, very few people studied it to join the profession,” he said. Speaking at the function, Moily hailed the Indian judicial system saying it is the “most effective” system in the world and “the belief in rule of law is the strongest here.” Addressing the conference, Moily said judiciary has always stood the fort, protecting the rule of law, whenever an issue has arisen. Justice Kabir, in his address, highlighted the change witnessed by the legal profession and credited technological advances, particularly the Internet, for it.
“Today the legal profession is one of the most sought after professions in India. Legal education has also changed in the past decade,” Justice Kabir said adding the reason behind this “change in attitude” is due to “tagging of more than one course with that of law, like BA or BSc. So students are studying more than one subject. “Advent of Internet has revolutionised the type of legal activity, it has shaped the way we practise. We have to be geared and be ready to accept the change.” Observing that with the changing times, ethics of the profession are also changing, Justice Kabir said that young law students should be trained “on how to act in a situation, ethics in a court room and how you deal with judges”. “As soon as you are an advocate, people hold you on a different level, people look up to you, repose their entire trust in you, and the day the trust is betrayed that is the most unseemly thing that can happen and it has happened and it is happening with the changes taking place. (PTI)