The Provision of Free Legal Aid in India (original) (raw)
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Good Governance and Human Rights in Developing Nations, 2017
Access of justice is one of the basic principles and part of the fundamental right of the Indian Constitution. As it can be fairly estimated, for a country like India with such a large number of people below poverty line and marginalized who are still waiting to realize their basic rights, it is necessary to provide free legal aid services to these people to prevent them from exploitation and to realise the constitutional obligation. As on May 2016 as per World Bank data, 22 percent of India's population which equalled to 270 million people lived below the poverty line due to various socio-economic reasons. These individuals are not having proper access to basic facilities and services such as basic human needs. Insensitivities on the part law enforcement agencies further victimises these people. It is moreover perceived that denial of proper justice due to lack of free legal aid and related services to such a large number of people is simply an unacceptable reality which must be addressed in an urgent basis. In light of this existing scenario, the current study seeks to examine the challenges involved in getting access to justice to the marginalised and the poor in India. Moreover it focuses on to study the Constitutional guarantees which are available to realise the right to access to justice to the poor and marginalised in India. Finally the study highlights some of the lacunas which are involved in effective implementation of constitutional guarantees in order to suggest find some solutions and recommendation to address the issues at hand.
Legal Aid in India: Retuning Philosophical Chords
BRICS Law Journal, 2016
Legal aid in India has evolved over the last few decades since 42nd Amendment to the Indian Constitution. This paper attempts to provide philosophical underpinnings suggesting how legal aid model has evolved over the years and excogitate a newer trajectory for its future evolution. It delves into weighing Kant’s imperfect duty justifying a charity based regime and marks a transition to utilitarian model suggesting requirement of institutional need to address issues of basic liberty of ‘access to justice.’ It also spells out Rawls’ principles of justice and attempts to explore their applicability in the Indian context, to chart out a road map for future. While contrasting different models on legal aids, it makes a finding that, India doesn’t accord priority to liberty of access to justice. The Indian Supreme Court has emerged as a bastion of liberty but the finer details of the enactment has been messed up by the Indian lawmakers. The lower compensation to lawyers and lack of alterna...
Access to Justice: Need for Reforms
Law Society, Department of Law, Aligarh Muslim University, Murshidabad Centre (W.B.), 2018
Article 21 is to meet the following conditions: (i) There must be valid law, and (ii) The valid law must lay down just, fair and reasonable procedure. Justice P.N. Bhagwati declared that the expression 'personal liberty' in Article 21 is of the widest amplitude and it covers variety of right who go to constitute personal liberty and some of them raised the status of distinct Fundamental Rights and given additional protection under Article 14 and 19. Some of the important rights have been recognized by the judiciary under Article 21 are enumerated as under: Right to Free Legal Aid The concept of Legal Aid to the indigent has its roots in the well-settled principle of natural justice 'audi alteram partem' (hear the other side). Even in primitive society, the leader would hear the parties before passing his judgment. In today's society where there is large number of Acts, Rules and Regulations with complex procedure, the assistance of a lawyer is necessary for ensuring justice. In a welfare state it is obligations of the state to ensure to the citizen justice according to law. It is crystal clear that due to poverty people are not in position to knock the doors of courts for getting justice from judiciary, so sometime even in genuine cases people are to suffer unnecessarily in prison. In M.H. Hoskot vs. state of Maharashtra 8 , the Supreme Court has emphasized that the lawyer's services constitute an ingredient of fair procedure to a prisoner who is seeking his liberation through the court procedure. In Hussainara Khatoon case 9 , Bhagwati, J., has observed: "Now, a procedure which does not make available legal services to an accused person who is too poor to afford a lawyer and who would, therefore, have to go through the trial without legal assistance, cannot possibly be regarded as 'reasonable, fair and justice". In the Constitution of India there is implicit in Article 142 read with Article 21 and 39A, the state is to pay the amount to lawyer fixed by the court. Article 39A equal justice and free legal aid was inserted by the Constitution 44th
AN ASSESSMENT OF THE FUNCTIONING OF LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITIES IN INDIA: A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
'Access to Justice' is a basic human right, yet it is a distant dream for the poor and deprived section of the country. Free legal aid is an initiative to provide protection of law to the weak, poor and illiterate and ensure them equal justice. Legal aid is meant for those people who cannot bear the expenses of lawyers' fees and expenses (Singh R. , 2017). The concept of legal aid coincides with the Preamble of the constitution of India that secures to all its citizens Social, Economic and political Justice (Constituent Assembly, n.d.). The importance of this concept can be gauged from the fact that 30% of Indian population is living below the poverty line. As per international poverty line, India has the largest number of people living under poverty line (PTI, 2016). Due to the poor implementation of the welfare schemes, more than 90% workforce in India falls under unorganised sector (Express News Service, 2015). There is a need to revamp the socioeconomic structure for the people, in need of justice, to be empowered. Establishment and development of effective legal aid system is required to eradicate the inequality between the poor and the rich in serving justice (Pathak). The concept of legal aid cannot be undermined when we see the holistic picture of the Indian population deprived of even the basic needs of their lives. Setting up of legal services authorities and committees at national, state and district levels with the objective to improve the quality of legal services and make justice approachable to the deprived section of the society (Multiple Action Research Group, 2012). But the lack of legal awareness among people is one of the major reasons to get people deprived of the justice. For this, not only legal fraternity, but society also needs to come forward and take the responsibility to take care of its vulnerable population (Vardhan, 2015). This paper focuses on the purpose and functioning of legal services authorities. The aim of the paper is to study the extent to which the legal services authorities are working towards providing free legal aid to the poor and promote justice on a basis of equal opportunity.
Bread for the Poor: Access to Justice and the Rights of the Needy in India
HAStIngS lJ, 2003
India is rightly acclaimed for achieving a flourishing constitutional order, presided over by an inventive and activist judiciary, aided by a proficient bar, supported by the state and cherished by the public. At the same time, the courts, and tribunals where ordinary Indians might go for remedy and protection, are beset with massive problems of delay, cost, and ineffectiveness. Potential users avoid the courts; in spite of a longstanding reputation for litigiousness, existing evidence suggests that Indians avail themselves of the courts at a low rate, and the rate appears to be falling.' Still, the courts remain grid-
ACCESS TO COURT IN INDIA AND USA: A COMPERATIVE ANALYSIS
The right to sue and defend in the courts is one of the highest and most essential privileges of citizenship therefore it must be allowed by each State to the citizens of all other States lie its own citizen. The constitutional requirement is satisfied if the non-resident is given access to the courts of the State upon terms which, in themselves, are reasonable and adequate for the enforcing of any rights he may have, even though they may not be technically the same as those accorded to resident citizens. One of the underlying tenets of democracy is to provide justice equally to all citizens. A means of ensuring this is to allow citizens access to court. "Access to justice" in its general term, means that individual's right to go or sue in the court or a guarantee of legal representation. It has many fundamental elements such as identification and recognition of grievance, awareness and legal advice or assistance, accessibility to court or claim for relief, adjudication of grievance, enforcement of relief, of course this may be the ultimate goal of a litigant public.
Bread for the Poor: Access to Justice and the Rights of the Needy [with Jayanth Krishnan] in India
HAStIngS lJ, 2003
India is rightly acclaimed for achieving a flourishing constitutional order, presided over by an inventive and activist judiciary, aided by a proficient bar, supported by the state and cherished by the public. At the same time, the courts and tribunals where ordinary Indians might go for remedy and protection are beset with massive problems of delay, cost, and ineffectiveness. Potential users avoid the courts; in spite of a longstanding reputation for litigiousness, existing evidence suggests that Indians avail themselves of the courts at a low rate and the rate seems to be falling.