In what could be a very significant initiative, the Central government is exploring the possibility of emphasising on pro-bono legal assistance as a criterion for appointment of lawyers as High Court judges..Towards this end, it is planning to create a database of lawyers who would be ready to provide pro-bono assistance to needy litigants..Secretary of Department of Justice, Snehlata Shrivastava has addressed a letter to Chairman of Bar Council of India (BCI) Manan Kumar Mishra on November 10, last year setting out this plan of the government.“The government is exploring the possibility of laying emphasis on pro-bono legal assistance provided by advocates to needy litigants as one of the proposed yardstick to be considered for appointment as judges of High Courts..We are planning to create a database of those advocates who meet the criteria of 45-55 years of age and minimum annual professional net income of Rs. 5 lakh and above for the last 5 years.”.Srivastava has requested BCI that the communication be circulated among lawyers so that interested advocates can come forward to enable the creation of database of such lawyers..Srivastava confirmed to Bar & Bench that the government is currently in the process of collecting applications of interested candidates..Recently, Senior Advocate Indira Jaising had advocated for the same condition as a criterion for designating lawyers as Senior Advocates.. Read the communication by Centre to BCI below.
In what could be a very significant initiative, the Central government is exploring the possibility of emphasising on pro-bono legal assistance as a criterion for appointment of lawyers as High Court judges..Towards this end, it is planning to create a database of lawyers who would be ready to provide pro-bono assistance to needy litigants..Secretary of Department of Justice, Snehlata Shrivastava has addressed a letter to Chairman of Bar Council of India (BCI) Manan Kumar Mishra on November 10, last year setting out this plan of the government.“The government is exploring the possibility of laying emphasis on pro-bono legal assistance provided by advocates to needy litigants as one of the proposed yardstick to be considered for appointment as judges of High Courts..We are planning to create a database of those advocates who meet the criteria of 45-55 years of age and minimum annual professional net income of Rs. 5 lakh and above for the last 5 years.”.Srivastava has requested BCI that the communication be circulated among lawyers so that interested advocates can come forward to enable the creation of database of such lawyers..Srivastava confirmed to Bar & Bench that the government is currently in the process of collecting applications of interested candidates..Recently, Senior Advocate Indira Jaising had advocated for the same condition as a criterion for designating lawyers as Senior Advocates.. Read the communication by Centre to BCI below.