Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court inaugurates Legal Aid Defence Counsel System

A Legal Aid Defence Counsel System was recently inaugurated by the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, Justice Vikram Nath, on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day on January 26. The new facility was inaugurated at the District Court, Surendranagar..The Legal Aid Defence Counsel System, is a Pilot Project for providing Legal Aid in Criminal matters (in Sessions Cases, at the first instance) that has been envisaged by the National Legal Services Authority..The aim is to make legal services more professional and to provide quality legal services in Criminal matters to eligible beneficiaries, on the lines of the Public Defence System..The system will involve salaried lawyers with assistants. The lawyers engaged for the project cannot take on private cases. The unit would be dealing exclusively with the legal aid work in criminal matters..Officers of the Legal Aid Defence Counsel Office have been tasked with providing the following legal services to accused/convicts,Legal advice and assistanceConducting trial and appeals in Sessions Courts.Handling bail applications in Sessions CourtsAny other legal aided work related to Sessions Courts.To begin with the following lawyers have been appointed for the project, as per a press release issued by the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority:Advocate Vinodkumar L Rahod, having experience of over 10 years has been appointed as Chief Legal Aid Defence Counsel, with monthly salary of Rs. 60,000/- ; Advocate Nareshbhai L Makwana, having experience of over 7 years has been appointed as Deputy Chief Legal Aid Defence Counsel, with monthly salary of Rs. 40,000/- Advocate Narendrasinh J Zala, has been appointed as ad Assistant Legal Aid Defence Counsel, with monthly salary of Rs. 30,000/- . These appointments are purely on contract basis and for an initial period of two years, the press release further informs..The launch event also the saw the presence of other High Court judges including Justice SR Brahmbhatt, Executive Chairman of the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority; Justice RM Chhaya, Chairman of the High Court Legal Services Committee and Justice Umesh A Trivedi, who is also the Administrative Judge for the Surendranagar District. .During the launch of the event, Chief Justice Nath and Justice Brahmbhatt emphasised that the officials of the Legal Aid Defence Counsel System should ensure that the poor litigants may not deprived of Justice and further, that they should get quality and speedy justice.