E.S. Jagadeeshwar
Advocates are depriving of their Right to Live with Human Dignity
It is very popular among the people as Legal Profession is a noble profession but should not be a commercial one. No doubt an Advocate should be humane, should understand the grievances of the parties.
The present scenerio is prices of essential commodities are touching the sky, in the same manner the monthly income of an Advocate is not increasing. Particularly at the Subordinate Court level or Dist. level there is no guarantee of guaranteed monthly income to all Advocates.
For a young lawyer at the Dist. level has to concentrate mainly on Civil Laws and Criminal Laws. For this an Advocate practicing on Civil laws should aware of the filing procedure
1. Junior Civil Judge Courts
2. Senior Civil Judge Courts
3. District Judge Court
(Basic knowledge of Drafting, preparing the case, submitting to the Court of Law, knowledge of Civil Procedure Code, Indian Evidence Act, Suits Valuation Act, Stamps Act, Art of cross examination etc.)
In case of Criminal laws..an Advocate should have the knowledge of practicing
before
1. Magistrate Court
2. Asst. Seesions Judge Court
3. Sessions Judge Court
At present young Advocates are in a state of confusion. At the grassroots level it is very difficult to get a case, even after getting the case, it is difficult to collect the fee.
The Advocate Fee Rules are outdated. The fee fixed by the authorities concerned is very low. Basing on that income an Advocate cannot survive.
Whereas in case of High Court and Supreme Court eminent Advocates are collecting huge amounts on hourly basis, for appearance, consultation fee, drafting fee etc. In some cases the fee may be in lakhs. A Trial Court Advocate cannot demand in such a manner.
Once an Advocate has been appointed as a Standing Counsel to any Bank or Insurance Company, there is no limit of cases allotted to him/her. Once he/she has been appointed as a Counsel, he/she is continuing until he retires or dies. How young Advocates will get opportunities?
In Andhra Pradesh, drafting of various legal documents is being done by Document Writers but not by trained Lawyers.
Corporates are less at Dist. level and all registered offices are situated in Capital cities or well developed cities. The payments made by the corporates to their Standing Counsels is also less.
Under these circumstances how an Advocate can survive?
1. Advocate Fee Rules are outdated not in tune with modern times.
2. Corporates are paying very low fee by taking advantage of outdated Advocate Fee Rules.
3. Opprotunities to be appointed as Standing Counsel for Banks, Insurance Companies or Corporates are very less.
4. Few Advocates are controlling the legal profession.
5. There is no guarantee of guaranteed monthly income to all Advocates at the Subordinate Court.
6. Without having sufficient cases how an Advocate can sharpen his/her skills? What are the opportunities available to them at the Dist. level? How many Tribunals under various Acts are available at Dist. level?
7. What are the opportunities available to specialize a single Act or Law at the Subordinate Court?
8. Without having sufficient cases how an Advocate can improve the skills of cross examination?
9. Why the State and Central Governments are reluctant to establish more High Court benches and Supreme Court bences in various States?
I would like to say to our legal fraternity as ”specifically Subordinate Court Advocates are deprive of their Right to Live with Human Dignity. They are unable to understand their purview as well as the public also.
Be bold and raise your voice to uplift the human dignity of our legal fraternity and make efforts to provide guaranteed monthly income to all Advocates. Otherwise their lives will be in danger. They cannot survive, they have to leave the profession.
Our Advocate brethren are thinking about the protection of human rights of others but not our legal fraternity. What I feel is, first we have to protect our ”right to live with human dignity” then only, we can understand others.
So, our legal fraternity can understand my heartburn as well as our Trial Court Advocates