COIMBATORE: The Judiciary is facing a structural crisis that is weakening the institution, and there is a need to discuss the problems confronting advocates and the judiciary, Madras High Court Justice N Anand Venkatesh said on Saturday.
Speaking at the 9th State Conference of the Indian Association of Lawyers (IAL) in Coimbatore, he said the judiciary needed to begin a process of self-introspection. “Commercialization, institutional stagnation, selfishness and fall of morality weaken the judiciary at each stage,” he said.
Venkatesh said the legal profession had a dual role as a service-oriented profession and an instrument of social justice. “If I speak about this after retirement, no one will pay heed; it must be spoken about boldly while in power,” he said.
On legal education, he said its quality was deteriorating amid the uncontrolled proliferation of law colleges. Though the Bar Council has powers to regulate legal education and set standards, he said its 2015 decision to halt permissions for new law colleges for three years was violated, with permission granted for 300 colleges and deemed university status.
More than 1,500 law colleges now exist across the country, including 27 National Law Universities, he said. NLUs produce only about 5% of enrolled advocates, while others largely come from second- and third-tier colleges. He said 30-50% of professor posts were vacant and some government law colleges lacked subjects and had differing curricula.
Warning that AI would transform the judiciary, Venkatesh said, “If lawyers do not study deeply and are not neutral, AI will consume them.” He also criticised continued court boycotts by advocates despite a Supreme Court order against the practice, saying they contributed to the pendency of over five crore cases.