Speaking at a seminar on “Strengthening Legal Education at the threshold of Second Generation Reforms in Legal Education in India,” held at National Law School of India University on Saturday, Subramanium said “Law teachers are lowly paid academics whose self esteem is constantly under attack.”
He said it was unfair to expect the teachers to inspire the vast hordes of students about constitutional values, if they themselves were exploited.
He said the Bar Council would step in to ensure that the large number of non-premier institutions also had access to good teaching.
“They should also have access to good teaching and access to knowledge and they must have a chance to be able to show their skill in a level playing field.”
The hierarchy that afflicted education in other sectors should not pervade legal education, he cautioned. The Bar Council had drawn up plans to see how existing law schools could be grouped together and how they could live up to common parameters of high quality legal education, he explained.
He also spoke about introducing a unique identity number for all the lawyers in the country and see that they received the best hardware and software skills training.
To introduce transparency in the profession which was overcome with artificial mystification, the Bar Council would be evolving a model of self-evaluation which will contain transparency index for each lawyer, Subramanium added.
Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj said that the legal education provided should be of a quality that would be acceptable to international community.
“Our Bar needs an attitude change. They need the same knowledge as those of lawyers across the world. Only this can help them gain confidence. The Bar Council should provide this education and training,” he said. He laid stress on improving the infrastructure in the existing universities, saying “Whatever universities exist, they should be funded liberally.”
He stated that lawyers had to become more technology savvy and utilise facilities like online libraries.
Guv upset with HC crisis
Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj on Saturday declared that he was dissatisfied with the situation in the Karnataka High Court.
Speaking at the sidelines of the event here, he said “Yes I am very upset. Can there be a situation where the Chief Justice is not working? Either you decide he should work or you do something. I want a full fledged court working for the good of the people.”
He further questioned: “Is it not your privilege that if there is an important case, it should be heard dispassionately at properly organised High Court? Now why are they neglecting all these things?”
The Governor went on to say that Karnataka had one of the best High Courts in the country and his concerns arose out of his long association with the Court.
