Supreme Court judge voices concern over standard of legal education

Voicing concerns over the state of legal education and entry of unscrupulous elements into the profession, Supreme Court judge Justice FM Ibrahim Khaliffulla on Saturday said the Bar Council had a key role to play in ensuring high standards.

He suggested a four-fold measure - quality legal education, eliminating unscrupulous elements from being enrolled as advocates, making available right set of materials for lawyers to excel and protection to the legal fraternity - to address the issues.

The Bar Council shall play a key role by setting up an academic council to update on legal issues for the benefit of the younger generation of lawyers, he said at the inauguration of a new building for the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in Chennai. Madras High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said the Council had a duty to ensure that young lawyers came out with integrity.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the state of legal education in the country, he noted that there was paucity of teachers.

Justice C Nagappan, also of the apex court, said prompt steps should be taken to provide proper quality of legal education. He said legal profession should become people-oriented and "serve as healers of human conflicts and suffering." TN and Puducherry Bar Council Chairman Selvam welcomed the gathering. Judges of the High Court and S Prabhakaran, member of Bar Council of India, participated in the function.