ROLE OF LAW STUDENTS IN THE LEGAL AID REGIME OF THE NATION - Sachin Upadhyay (Advocate, Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench, email id: sachin.upadhyay8@gmail ; Mob: 9458577577) The principle of rule of law and the philosophy of the Indian constitution in what is described as its basic structure mandates that every citizen should have reasonable access to justice. Yet this constitutional guarantee is a luxury for many facing problems of poverty, economic deprivation and want of education. Therefore, it is necessary to examine ,determine and propose the role that law students could play in mitigating the prevailing injustices, official apathy and raising the competence bar of the budding professionals and also upgrading the general level of legal awareness of the community. Justice Bhagwati in the land mark judgement of P.U.D.R. v U.O.I. wrote “ Large numbers of men, women and children who constitute the bulk of an population are today living a sub human existence in conditions of object poverty; utter grinding poverty bas broken their back and sapped their moral fibre. They have no faith in the existing social and economic system. Nor can these poor and deprived sections of humanity afford to enforce their civil and political rights.” With a vast section of the Indian population living below the poverty line equal justice may have become a hypothetical situation in our country. In such a situation it becomes imperative that persons interested in upholding the ideals of justice come forward and speak for those who have no voice, the best example of this are legal aid services being carried out by various law schools. Who is better placed to guide people about the intricacies of law than students unblemished by the pragmatism taught in our courts and unbridled by the constraints of treating law as a source of income. Demographically, India is at its youngest best and carries the power to meet diverse challenges coming on its way through collective consciousness and efforts of its vast youth population. It is the youth of our nation who is playing prominent role in every area of our mixed economical setup. Legal fraternity is not the one that goes untouched and unaffected by this positive force. Law Schools across the country offer integrated Honours and LL.B. degrees. This has brought legal education at par with engineering and medical studies, with high school students being immediately absorbed into the legal fraternity. Conventional Indian education choices have given place to legal education in the recent years, especially after the setting up of National Law Universities, the creation of standard assessment tests in the form of CLAT and AIBE. Eminent newspapers now showcase placements in law universities and publish annual law school rankings. Reading these, the high school student has started to aspire looking beyond the traditional Honours degree, to a more professional and high paying law degree. So most of the greenhorns in first year enter law school, extremely hopeful of securing that coveted position in the Tier 1 law firm, or making it big at an International Moot Court Competition, or even being the invisible Junior in the chambers of a famous Advocate. For some people, entering Law School begins with a dream to change society, eradicate poverty and hunger and uphold justice and truth. By the end of it, these dreams succumb to pressing needs to get that fat salary package. What is important is to realize here is that legal aid is not a form of charity. It is a process of learning. When young enthusiastic law students provide legal aid, it benefits both the receiver, and the provider, because the practical application of legal principles cannot be learnt from a book. Such hands-on-experience comes of use not only in ones profession, but at every step of life. Law, unlike the sciences, is not a detached study. It requires an appreciation of social and cultural facts of everyday lives. It is essential for such education to be grounded in reality, if it is to be of any use. The reality is that India is an agrarian nation with the majority of rural population. A vast majority of people are not aware of their legal rights, being illiterate and poor. If the study of law is not to remain an empty vessel, it is required that we modify our concepts of what constitutes justice, according to our nations situation. If development and growth is to be inclusive, the law student needs to break out of his air-conditioned classroom and pay a visit to a real client. Every year there are around more than 3 Lakhs new enrolments in Universities and colleges for pursuing Law. While the Bar Council of India has been instrumental in regulating & promoting the legal education in India specially in the past 2 decades, however, the question of improving legal education by involving law students in the delivery of legal services, particularly to indigent and weaker sections in society, did not occur to or find favour with educational reformers for a long time. It is expedient for the BCI to make sure that the students pursuing law are trained efficiently so as to somehow get involved in the fraternity and brush up their understanding of the system. Law students can identify a legal need, recruit supervising attorneys, research the relevant law, and enlisted classmates to bring legal services to under-served communities. It is a win-win for both parties; the students gain the benefit of practical experience to inform their academic coursework and the under-served communities get special attention and proper guidance for free or at a limited expense. Running pilot schemes with law students taking up part-time voluntary roles as “community legal companions” can help in figuring out to what extent the pressure is lowered. The law isnt always brain surgery. It is often far from it and much more could be done to help ordinary people demystify the law and court processes. It is important to be able to serve the community while learning how to be better and more socially-conscious attorneys. Its purpose is to provide quality legal counsel to people who lack the means to obtain other help. Not only does this arrangement serve as an opportunity for law students to gain practical experience, but the clinics clients also are able to receive quality pro bono representation. The program supplements students academic curriculum by allowing them to experience interviewing clients, investigating cases, taking care of adverse parties, and trying cases. Even though a lot of programs are being undertaken by students across the country they only restrict to guiding people about their rights and the possible remedies available to them, and rarely find them a lawyer willing to take up their case. As the law does not allow law students to appear as counsels more often than not the person is ultimately left to fend for himself or try to find a good enough lawyer willing to fight for him and one he can afford. This greatly curtails the efficacy of the process both in terms of relief to the person interested and the satisfaction of the students involved. Hence it would be greatly desirable if the registered legal aid centers run by students of law school be allowed to appear in court, even if they do so under the guidance of a registered lawyer, this would not only increase the success rates of the process but also allow the student involved to learn a lot more about the judicial process thereby encouraging more students to come forward in helping the needy.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 14:37:13 +0000
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