Announcing a string of benefits in the pipeline for the legal fraternity, union minister of law and justice and minority affairs Salman Khurshid said that soon a retainership scheme for budding lawyers for the first three years of their careers would be rolled out. Alos, an insurance scheme for legal eagles was under discussion.
He was speaking at the golden jubilee celebration function of the bar council of Punjab and Haryana at the Bhargava auditorium of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research here on Saturday.
Khurshid said, “The retainership scheme would be started in few states and districts first as a pilot project. The ministry was trying to involve every law university and some of the best passing-out advocates would be appointed as retainers for the initial three years of their career.” He said these young advocates could be appointed on contract with the government, on which deliberations were in progress.
The union minister said it was being ensured that the Rajiv Gandhi Adhivakta Prashikshan Yojana started in 2010, with the main aim of providing two months’ professional training to young law professionals so that they served better at the grassroots level, worked in a better manner.
He said every effort was being made to improve the justice delivery system in the country by the ministry of law and justice in co-ordination with the apex court so that there is a similar judicial system all over the country and consumers could get legal justice. “Chief justices of various high courts are in discussion with the Chief Justice of India on the matter,” said Khurshid.
{{/usCountry}}He said every effort was being made to improve the justice delivery system in the country by the ministry of law and justice in co-ordination with the apex court so that there is a similar judicial system all over the country and consumers could get legal justice. “Chief justices of various high courts are in discussion with the Chief Justice of India on the matter,” said Khurshid.
{{/usCountry}}“There are many problems, but division is not the answer, cohesion is the answer,” he said.
When asked about his views on the limits of the media reporting, he asserted that since there was a question on the liberty of the media, the Supreme Court was seized of the matter. On being questioned about the restrictions on content in the social media and playing of controversial CD visuals on social networking sites, he said, “Rules and views of various countries are being looked into to reach a consensus.”
On the question of filling up a number of vacant posts of judges throughout the country, Khurshid said the difficulty was not just about the appointment of judges but also about creating infrastructure for their functioning.
Replying to social activist Anna Hazare’s remarks that senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi must be hanged if found guilty in the controversial CD supposedly showing him in a compromising position with a woman, Khurshid said hanging was a punishment given only in the rarest of the rare cases.