Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the judiciary should have a thorough knowledge about Spectrum allocation for rendering a proper judgement in the issue.
COIMBATORE: Cautioning that a wrong judgment in an economic case could change the direction of the country's economy, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the judiciary should have a thorough knowledge about Spectrum allocation for rendering a proper judgement in the issue.
"Without understanding what the spectrum means, how the allotment is done and what the competition is, we cannot render proper justice on the issue," he said while attending a function at the Rotary Club here.
The Finance Minister said that it was not the issue of Rs 4,000 crore or Rs 40,000 crore or competition, but involved science and technology.
A wrong judgment in an economic case can change the direction of entire economy of a nation, he said adding judges and lawyers should have thorough knowledge and understanding about the subject on which they give judgment or carry out argument. They should have command over the subject.
His comments come at a time when the telecom sector is in the midst of litigations over spectrum allocation. The spectrum controversy started with the government allowing in October CDMA players to operate in GSM arena under dual technology clause and new norms for spectrum allocation as recommended by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
While TRAI suggested up to six times hike in subscriber base, DoT's technical wing, Telecom Engineering Centre, recommended up to 15 times higher base for additional spectrum.
GSM operators challenged the norms in TDSAT and Delhi High Court, but did not get any relief.
Those in the legal profession should learn more and argue on the basis of the knowledge and understanding. Courts cannot be approached with 'limited knowledge', Chidambaram said.
He said that in olden days the rural and semi-urban people were looking up with confidence at 'limited lawyers' to solve local issues and get advice on other matters.
However, as the society started growing, the number of lawyers and cases also started increasing, resulting in 'decline in the discipline' of the profession, he said.
"No one can dispute that there is lack of discipline in the legal profession now, as being witnessed in other departments", the minister said.
As the sphere of profession started spreading into various fields, such as globalisation, international arbitration, intellectual property, economic and corporate cases, the number of pending cases has also started moving up, he said.
The way the number of cases were increasing, it could not be cleared in another 10 to 15 years, he said adding there was also decline in the argument and analytical quality.
With 'amazing changes' in the field, there was also problem in carrying out individual practice, leading to creation of Corporate and Partnership practice, which has helped lawyers to go into the minute details of the case, he said.
Welcoming the recent meeting held by Chief Justice of India and Supreme Court judges in Bhopal, he said that all the judges were given training in handling economic cases.
Besides the natural talent and on-the-job learning, the judges and lawyers should learn more on the subject so that right justice could be rendered in every field, he said.
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