TMI Blog2000 (11) TMI 1229X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ledged being sober, task oriented, professionally responsible stratum of the population, are further obliged to utilise their skills for socio-political modernization of the country. The lawyers are a force for the preservance and strengthening of constitutional government as they are guardians of the modern legal system. After independence the concept of social justice has become a part of our legal system. This concept gives meaning and significance to the democratic ways of life and of making the life dynamic. The concept of welfare state would remain in oblivion unless social justice is dispensed with. Dispensation of social justice and achieving the goals set forth in the constitution are not possible without the active, concerted and dynamic efforts made by the person concerned with the justice dispensation system. The prevailing ailing socio- economic-political system in the country needs treatment which can immediately be provided by judicial incision. Such a surgery is impossible to be performed unless the Bench and the Bar make concerted effort. The role of the members of the Bar has thus assumed great importance in the post independent era in the country. Generally strik ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... essional etiquette of a lawyer to deprive his client of his services in the court on account of strike. No advocate can take it for granted that he will appear in the court according to his whim or convenience. It would be against professional ethics for a lawyer to abstain from the court when the cause of his client is called for hearing or further proceedings. This Court in Tahil Ram Issardas Sadarangani Ors. v. Ramchand Issardas Sadarangani Anr. [1993 Supp. (3) SCC 256] while deprecating the decreasing trend of service element and increasing trend of commercialisation of legal profession, pointed out that it was for the members of the Bar to act and take positive steps to remove such an impression before it is too late. By striking work, the lawyers fail in their contractual and professional duty to conduct the cases for which they are engaged and paid. In Common Cause, A Regd. Society v. Union of India Ors. [1994 (5) SCC 557 it was observed, Since litigants have a fundamental right to speedy justice as observed in Hussainara Khatoon v. Home Secy., State of Bihar [1980 (1) SCC 81] it is essential that cases must proceed when they appear on board and should not ordinarily ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sponsible citizen, the lawyer has to conduct himself as a model for others both in his professional and in his private and public life. The society has a right to expect of him such ideal behaviour. It must not be forgotten that the legal profession has always been held in high esteem and its members have played an enviable role in public life. The regard for the legal and judicial systems in this country is in no small measure due to the tireless role played by the stalwarts in the profession to strengthen them. They took their profession seriously and practised it with dignity, deference and devotion. If the profession is to survive, the judicial system has to be vitalised. No service will be too small in making the system efficient, effective and credible. The casualness and indifference with which some members practise the profession are certainly not calculated to achieve that purpose or to enhance the prestige either of the profession or of the institution they are serving. If people lose confidence in the profession on account of the deviant ways of some of its members, it is not only the profession which will suffer but also the administration of justice as a whole. The pre ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in minor felony and misdemenaour cases before the District of Columbia Superior Court sought an increase in the statutorily fixed fees they were paid for the work they had done. When their lobbying efforts to get increase in the fees failed, all the attorneys, as a group, agreed among themselves that they would not accept any new cases after a certain date, if the District of Columbia had not passed legislation providing for an increase in their fees. The Trial Lawyers' Association to which the attorneys belonged supported and publicised their agreement. When they are not accepting the briefs which affected the District's criminal justice system, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint against the Trial Lawyers' Association complaining that they had entered into a conspiracy to fix prices and go in for a boycott which was an unfair method of competition violating Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 USCS 45). The administrative law judge rejected various defences of the Association and recommended that the complaint to browbeat the boycott be dismissed. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reserved the FTC order holding that the at ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... this Court has reminded members of the legal profession in Lt.Col. S.J. Chaudhary v. State (Delhi Admn.) (1984) 1 SCC 722 that it is the duty of every advocate who accepts a brief to attend the trial and such duty cannot be overstressed. It was further reminded that 'having accepted the brief, he will be committing a breach of his professional duty, if he so fails to attend'. A lawyer is under obligation to do nothing that shall detract from the dignity of the court, of which he is himself a sworn officer and assistant. He should at all times pay differential respect to the Judge, and scrupulously observe the decorum of the courtroom. (Warvelle's Legal Ethics, at p.182) Of course, it is not a unilateral affair. There is a reciprocal duty for the court also to be courteous to the members of the Bar and to make every endeavour for maintaining and protecting the respect which members of the Bar are entitled to have from their clients as well as from the litigant public. Both the Bench and the Bar are the two inextricable wings of the judicial forum and therefore the aforesaid mutual respect is the sine qua non for the efficient functioning of the solemn work carrie ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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