Senior advocates should provide free services to weaker sections : President

President Ram Nath Kovind said that senior advocates of the Supreme Court and High Courts should devote a certain part of their time to the weaker sections of the people for providing free services. Speaking at the launch of the National Legal Services Authority (NLSA)’s six-week Pan-India Legal Awareness and Outreach Campaign at Vigyan Bhawan on Saturday, Kovind lauded the NLSA for launching the awareness campaign on Gandhi Jayanti.
He said that Mahatma Gandhi was the epitome of service to humanity, which included the services of providing justice to the downtrodden.

Kovind said, more than 125 years ago, Gandhiji had set some examples which are relevant even today to the entire legal fraternity. He had said that the best legal talent should be available to the poorest people at reasonable rates.

Kovind also said that Gandhiji’s advice should be followed by the legal fraternity, especially the senior advocates nominated in the Supreme Court and High Courts.

Appreciating NALSA’s vision for promoting an inclusive legal system to ensure fair and meaningful justice to the marginalized and disadvantaged sections, he expressed happiness that it would provide equal and barrier free access to justice to the people. working towards the constitutional objective of
The President further said that alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as mediation, conciliation and Lok Adalats remind us of our ancient values ​​of peace and justice.

The President said, even in modern India, since independence, we have started moving from the era of judicial elite to judicial democracy. NALSA is playing an important role in this journey since its system was commissioned 25 years ago.

Kovind also said that the structure of legal entities provides support to the judicial architecture and strengthens it at the national, state, district and sub-divisional levels, and that this support and strength is critical to serve a large number of vulnerable people. .

Urging the officers of the legal services to make special efforts to spread awareness about the rights and entitlements of citizens, especially among those who are socially and economically backward, he further said that the lack of awareness by the state It hinders the implementation of the welfare policies framed, as the real beneficiaries are unaware of their rights.