Kangaroo courts by lawyers, a worrisome trend

Though proliferation of lawyers is said to have triggered such a rat race, the practice of law in such lower courts is said to be in a deplorable state and provides little by way of either respect or remuneration. It is common knowledge that the moment a person walks into any of these lower courts, he or she is bound to be mobbed by advocates trying to outwit each other in a bid to get hired. 

Moreover, with an intense territorial fight playing out in these courts, some advocates forcibly take up cases for the accused. An unsaid rule also prevails wherein if a litigant wants to engage a lawyer, practicing in another court, consent needs to be obtained from the ‘insiders’, which would invariably involve a financial payout.

Another disturbing feature is that in many cases, the lawyers end up filing bail applications for an accused by obtaining case details from the court staff. When the case comes up for bail, the relative of the accused would be surprised to find that five or more applications have been filed and the lawyer he has hired cannot appear. 

Thereafter, a “compromise fee” is worked to get the local lawyers withdraw so that the lawyer he has hired can represent him in the case. In fact, a HC advocate who failed to abide by the ‘diktat’ and appeared in a bail case had to face the wrath of these lawyers. But the worst aspect is the shabby treatment and threats witnesses are subjected to. Even attacks on witnesses has reportedly turned a regular feature. But many go unreported owing to fear of unwanted repercussions. 

An instance that got into public glare was the brazen attack on a witness within the Egmore court premises for appearing against an accused advocate. For that matter, even a police inspector was assaulted for registering an FIR against a person close to certain advocates. A traffic constable’s cap was burnt for booking an advocate for a traffic violation. 

In fact, based on a plea moved by three persons who were subjected to a similar such assault by advocates in front of the X Metropolitan Magistrate court, the Madras High Court appointed a committee headed by retired High Court judge K Chandru to find a way out to check the utter lawlessness prevailing in the lower courts. 

The committee, after lengthy deliberations had held that, “To end the violence and unruly behavior in the court complex, it is necessary to remove the isolated functioning of the criminal courts and have a combined court.” It had suggested splitting Chennai City into four judicial districts-Northeast, Central, Southeast and Southwest-to centralise the justice delivery system and that the court complex in each judicial district must possess all types of courts including civil, criminal, labour, rent control and family matters. 

Senior Advocate M Radhakrishnan, said “Unrest largely happens in criminal courts and not much in the High Court and civil courts. Though these courts function in cramped places, it is necessary that thrust is laid on speedy justice that such advocates who function on threat and extortion have no role to play. It is also important that specialized bars are brought into place like Debt Recovery Tribunal, National Green Tribunal and so on that the proliferation of advocates is streamlined a bit.” 

Another crucial recommendation, which is in progress is the process of completing the verification of certificates of the members of the Bar in view of the high percentage of lawyers having degrees from outside the state, which are mostly bogus and fabricated. 

As per details provided by the Bar Council of TN and Puducherry out of the 92, 185 advocates registered with it, as on Nov 30, 2016, a mere 53,000 applications have come forth for verification. But out of those who had registered as many as 6,200 had died while 1,766 had suspended their practice and 2, 483 advocates were yet to clear the All India Bar Exam Declaration of Certificate of Practice. Also, in a bid to weed out ‘fake lawyers’ from the bar, the Bar Council of India has directed the enrollment committees of these bar councils to verify the certificates of future practicing lawyers. 

Fixing a charge of Rs 2,500 for this purpose, the process involves sending copies of their education credentials starting from 10th to the concerned board/university for verification. Enrolment can be completed only on receipt of a reply from the board/ university and in case a reply does not come, the candidates will be granted provisional enrolment for a period of six months. 

In fact, the ongoing verification drive by the Bar Council of India has revealed a shocker that almost half of India’s lawyers are fake. BCI’s chief Manan Kumar Mishra has been widely quoted as saying, “The council had almost 14 lakh voters as per its 2012 election statistics. But, this has reduced to half going by the fact that the council has received just 6.5 lakh applications since the verification process started. This meant the number of genuine lawyers has been cut down to 55-60 percent of the total across court rooms in India, because of the drive.”

While as many as 11.13 lakh cases remain pending in various lower courts in Tamil Nadu, the underlying aspect of witnesses being manipulated and trials being hijacked has led to a clear subversion of the criminal justice system. 

While lower courts are the first points of dispute settlement for the masses, the poor professionalism and high handedness of the advocates, is fast leading to a situation wherein the Magistrate and Munsiff courts will stop being an option for the common man unless the ongoing decay is not checked.