October 6, 2018

“Your good wishes matter a lot to me. I'll try & do what is good. I do not know how far I would succeed but I am confident that I will have your trust“, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, while stating that he wasn't prepared for such a warm welcome.

He was speaking at a felicitation function organized by the Bar Council of India on Saturday, to welcome & honor the newly appointed Chief Justice of India(CJI).

Function was held at BCI’s New Delhi Office witnessed presence of Supreme Court Judges Justice NV Ramana, Justice Arun Mishra & Justice MM Shantanagoudar, as well as judges from various High Courts.

Welcome address was delivered by BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra.

Remarking that his tenure as an Adv. has been longer than his tenure as a Judge, CJI Ranjan Gogoi stated that,“All judges are alive to problems of the Bar. We're a part of you & you are a part of us.”

He further added that he would not get into the legality of the issue at this moment.

While speaking on BCI’s role as a Regulator of legal education in India, CJI Gogoi pointed out that it is a “huge power and responsibility” and that Bar Council of India must look into quality of the legal education in India.

CJI Gogoi then took opportunity to reflect on state of legal aid in India and added that,“We have panel lawyers who are volunteering to do legal aid for a very small remuneration, but the quality of lawyers who offer legal aid needs to improve.“

CJI Gogoi remarked that presently, there are 15 cases per thousand population in India, but with progress on the economic, social and political fronts, “we must be prepared to tackle more inflow of cases“.

“Lawyer-population ratio will grow with increase in number of cases, and the Bar Council has an important role to play“ stated CJI Ranjan Gogoi.

While CJI Gogoi refrained from speaking on the issue of strikes, Justice Arun Mishra declared, in unequivocal terms, that the lawyers cannot have a right to strike and questioned that, “Can we afford jungle Raj? Can we shut doors of rule of law for common man? You have no right to go on strike".

Justice Mishra however agreed that Bar can go to a strike only in “exceptional cases“, like “when democracy or very judicial system is in danger“.

While welcoming new CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Mishra stated that,“Let’s begin with hope, I have full confidence that Indian judicial system which has survived several turmoils, is strong enough to show the world that we are independent and transparent.”

Justice Arun Mishra appealed to BCI to check “mushroom growth of law colleges” in India. He called upon BCI to reduce disparity in quality of the legal education across colleges in India.

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