If lawyers decide, there won’t be tarikh pe tarikh

 

 

LAWYERS are the promoters of law. They are the most potent tool to fight injustice. However, things turn sour for the lawyers, too, when a litigant is made to wait for years after filing a case due to the ‘tarikh pe tarikh’ syndrome dogging the country’s legal system. But newly-inducted President of High Court Bar Association (HCBA) Adv Atul Pande feels, “If lawyers decide, then justice can be delivered in a short time.”

 

Highlighting importance of lawyers in the justice delivery system while speaking to ‘The Hitavada’, Adv Pande says, “Justice should be delivered on time. If a case is dragged for 10-15 years, it will be of no use. There is too much pendency of cases in the court. Decentralisation of courts and increasing the number of judges is the solution to clear the pendency.” The HCBA, a strong organisation of more than 3,000 lawyers, is celebrating the centenary year and the new President has a list of events right from nurturing budding advocates to solving problems of remotest villages. “Junior lawyers are being trained by HCBA by organising seminars and training programmes as they are the future of the legal fraternity of Vidarbha. This year, some legal brains of India would be invited by the HCBA to deliver lectures to enhance skills of budding lawyers,” he states. Pande says, the HCBA is running ‘Nyay Doot’ programme to resolve issues being faced by villagers who are generally deprived of legal help.

 

“Nyay Doot is a flagship programme of HCBA under which a battery of senior lawyers visits villages in remote areas in the presence of High Court judges to hear and solve grievances of the villagers. The programme was not active for the last two years due to the pandemic. It will be resumed this year,” Adv Pande assures. A large chunk of lawyers has no place to seat in the High Court. The HCBA has taken up the issue and is working on seating arrangement at PWD bungalow which was allotted to the association. A central library and museum will also be developed at the Old High court building. “Study is the most important aspect for one who wants to be a successful lawyer.

 

The HCBA has planned to make a central library at the building so that the lawyers would get enough time and study material to understand the historical judgements,” states Adv Pande. A federation of Lawyers’ association would also be formed connecting the lawyer fraternity of taluka and district level with HCBA so that the grievances of lawyers would be solved at the earliest. During the pandemic years, legal fraternity was totally shaken and many people were unable to get food. “In such a situation, the HCBA provided a helping hand to lawyers and distributed food packets and financial aid to the family of lawyers,” Adv Pande proudly recalls.