Khushi Bajpai
Published on: October 12, 2022 at 19:21 IST
On Tuesday, the Gujarat High Court recommended that senior counsels let their juniors present cases in order to ensure that the young counsels gain experience and the bar becomes more robust.
Some senior attorneys who were present in court were asked by Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh J. Shastri to permit their juniors to argue before the court beginning on Wednesday.
“Our goal is to strengthen the young bar. We are stating all of this because in ten years, the young attorneys of today will be senior counsel. They must start learning right away. Therefore, let your juniors debate us,” said the bench.
“Mr. Shah, starting tomorrow, we want your juniors to present some cases to us for debate. Junior, please come before us starting tomorrow and present some arguments,” CJ Kumar added.
Shah promised to allow his subordinates to argue, but only in his presence.
The CJ joked:
“If you are among them, Mr. Shah, whatever minimum they would say would likewise not happen to you… They’ll be terrified. Allow them to present their case in front of each court.”
The judges then expressed their disgust with senior attorneys bringing up issues and even showing up in cases of contempt of court.
“I haven’t witnessed senior attorneys debating contempt cases. Even elderly people shouldn’t bring up issues. Let the younger students handle it. So let them study. If it’s a complicated issue or at this point, Shah noted that in complicated instances, advocates may decide against taking a gamble by delegating the case to a junior.”
“See, our goal is to uphold justice. We are not litigators looking to establish a case. There is a distinction,” CJ Kumar answered.
The Chief Justice’s ideas were accepted by another senior advocate present in the courtroom, who recalled how he had learned by taking on matters as a junior.
“In reality, I’m putting you in front of Lions and Tigers, my senior used to say to me. You must present your argument,” said he.
According to CJ Kumar, the pressure on seniors would decrease if juniors were permitted to argue.