Allegiance to ideology, political party, government erodes independence of legal profession: Justice PS Narasimha

Justice PS Narasimha recently opined that allegiance to political parties, governments and ideologies erode the independence of the legal profession which in turn is intrinsically linked to the independence of the judiciary. .The Supreme Court judge was speaking about his experience as a lawyer and now a judge at a talk organised by Friday Group, an informal academic group comprising lawyers of the Supreme Court of India. In his talk, he was discussing the factors that he thinks are most important to the legal profession when he asserted that the most crucial duty of a lawyer is to not compromise on carrying forward the truth for the sake of allegiances to political parties or governments. "Independence of the profession is the only thing that we must always, at every point of time, protect. How does it in any way get affected? I think, you can't be wedded to an ideology and move slightly away from the truth, whatever may be the ideology or philosophy. More importantly, I want to flag, (issue of) allegiance to a political party or government. There is absolutely nothing higher than the truth and the first obligation to carry that forward is on the lawyers," Justice Narasimha said. .Just like the independence of the legal profession, the judge opined that creativity based on diverse experiences has contributed to the development of the law at the top court."We carry different experiences and that is what enable us to bring in creativity. A large amount of that factor has contributed to the development of law at the Supreme Court. Me must retain that and we should not forget the originality which made us; our language, our culture, our background," he said..Speaking about the cooperative roles of the judiciary and the lawyers, Justice Narasimha emphasised that the courts and judges depend on lawyers to do their job of arriving at the truth. He, however, lamented that the increasingly "professional" attitude of lawyers may be contributing to a disconnect with the actual purpose of the profession. "Professionalism makes you focus on just your job so much so that you lose your connectivity with what we are working towards. We often forget that the case you are arguing before a judge is for the purpose of society getting to know what the truth is. But we just finish our job and go. A judge's decision is based so much on you as a lawyer. You should remember that this profession is integrally connected to the institution", he remarked..He also touched upon the problem of pendency of cases before various courts across the country. He proposed that even with an increasing number of law graduates entering the profession, the problem persists "The number of law colleges that have been opened and the professional way in which law students are trained have resulted in a lot of excellent talent coming in. I was just discussing with my colleagues that considering the number of cases that are pending all over, the higher number of students who are coming in is insufficient," he stated.He then called for the Bar and the Bench to work together to tackle the issue. .Regarding the differences between being a lawyer and a judge, Justice Narasimha, who was elevated to the Supreme Court directly from the Bar, said that as a judge, the idea of the self disappears since a judge has to put the interests of the institution above all else. "The individual or the self of a lawyer must disappear when he becomes a judge and his identity must be only that of the Supreme Court. Only then will there be no other focus in the judge's life than the fulfilment of the institutional interest," he opined..Justice Narasimha also had several words of praise for the Supreme Court Bar Association where he spent a significant portion of his career as a lawyer."We come from different parts of the country, we mingle with each other which brings its own great advantages, its like a parliament in its own way. Second interesting part is that, we also have the chance of being briefed from any part of the country which is yet another advantage you get from the enormous diversity which exists here which is unparalleled", he said..Supreme Court lawyer advocate G Seshagiri Rao, the organiser of the Friday Group, pointed out at the event that Justice Narasimha's talk was falling on the 145th meeting of the Friday Group and was the first one in the last two years since the pandemic began. .[Watch the full event below]