Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's speech at Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Indian Law Institute

"It is indeed a great honour for me to address this august gathering on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Indian Law Institute. Your institute has played an extremely important role in the development of Indian jurisprudence and in enhancing the quality of our legal services. I congratulate you for your achievements. You have served our country with great distinction. But I venture to think that the best is yet to come.

The "Rule of Law" is the foundation on which modern, democratic society is founded. Hence, the enforcement of law and of all contracts based on law are critical to the successful functioning of any such polity. At the same time, the efficiency of such enforcement is dependent on the efficiency and professionalism with which the entire legal system functions. In this context, legal education has an extremely important role to play in the establishment of a law-abiding society. A healthy regard for the professionalism of legal fraternity and judges enhances our community's faith in the legal system. Indeed, it reaffirms their faith in the concept of the rule of law. A legal system committed to values, to integrity and to excellence in legal education and research is, therefore, an extremely important component and ingredient of a vibrant and a just society which we seek.

The legal profession is the only profession referred to explicitly in the Constitution of India. Article 22(1) proudly proclaims that no person who is arrested shall "be denied the right to consult and to be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice." The legal profession is also a noble profession, like that of medicine. It is, therefore, of great importance that each legal professional should be both a competent person and a person of high integrity.

We live in times of great flux. A world that changes with every passing day - new technology and new ideas herald changes in the way we live, in the way we work, in the way we think. In our country, more than a billion people are today striving to fulfill their myriad aspirations for a life of dignity and self-respect. We need, therefore, to address ever-changing issues and problems in our fast evolving economy, polity and society.

The biggest challenge we face today is the challenge of managing change �we live in a world, where the only constant thing is change. Changes in the realm of social, economic, technological, ecological and other activities. The legal profession and our judiciary have, therefore, an important role to play in facilitating the management of change. Commercial law is increasingly becoming the foundation on which the wheels of our fast growing economy move. We need to ensure that the growth of our economy and the prospects of our people are not constrained by inadequate contract enforcement mechanisms. Hence, It is important that while framing and interpreting laws, while drafting contracts and enforcing them, while adopting procedures for resolving disputes, we recognize the societal and the institutional structures within which we must function, the constraints that are placed upon them and the necessity for the legal system to cater to the needs of a fast evolving polity, a growing economy and a changing society. I hope we can all work together, adopting a cooperative spirit, in taking our country forward on the road to progress.

Globalisation has had its impact on the development of our legal system and our legal profession. New challenges and opportunities are opening up. Our legal expertise is being sought by individuals, firms and countries across the world. National and international judges are networking, and becoming increasingly aware of each other's decisions. Legal professionals in one country meet the needs of the legal system in another. The legal world has like many other streams become a global village. The vast proliferation of laws - both national and international - on a vast range of subjects, is forcing students, teachers and practitioners of law to keep themselves abreast of developments across the world.

I do believe there is a great opportunity here for our legal profession and we must make fullest possible use of it. Indian legal professionals have acquired a global market and this market for their skills will grow in years to come. At the same time, professionals from other countries will become more active here and we should not grudge that. This process will, I am sure, widen the horizon for our legal professionals. We must equip ourselves better to deal with the emerging opportunities and challenges. Legal research institutes across the country would have to undertake cutting edge research. This will have to be done on a much larger scale than at present.

As we prepare ourselves for globalisation in the legal profession, we must invest more in promoting original thinking. Many of our problems are peculiar to our society. There are no imported solutions to many of these problems. We will have therefore to be innovative and find our own solutions to our problems suited to the needs and the aspirations of our people. The Supreme Court of India, through its judgments, has from time to time addressed critical problems and provided a very distinguished leadership to our society by coming up with highly original and innovative ideas, and have shown that although our jurisprudence may have British origins, we have the ability within us to mould our jurisprudence into a distinct creature, into something that is tailor-made and suited to the needs of our fast evolving economy and society.

Our judiciary, legislature, members of the bar, legal academia and scholars must therefore, be actively engaged in finding meaningful and widely acceptable solutions to the social challenges of our times. For example, we must critically examine the devices of affirmative action that we have deployed in our country and its real impact on the evolving social order, the opening up of the field of higher education to private players and the changes that it has brought about, the requirements of social welfare schemes in an increasingly liberalized economy, concerns of equity, the judiciary-executive relationships and the legislative tools that can be used to tackle the menace of terrorism while respecting Human Rights - to name only a few of the challenges that we face.

In a functioning democracy like ours public debate is an important mechanism for facilitating the formulation of both laws and policies. They influence the interpretation of law and influence legislation. Although we have been successfully carrying out socio-economic reforms within a democratic framework at a rate which has not been matched by most other democracies, the quality of public discourse has not always kept pace with the needs of our times.

It is the quality of public opinion and public debate, which will, I believe, eventually determine how informed and how transparent our decision making process will be in the years to come. In improving the quality of public debate, Institutes like yours can and must play an important role. You must also ensure that your legal scholarship and research are widely disseminated. This will help the general public, the judiciary and those in charge of governance, to take informed and transparent decisions.

Decision making, voicing of public opinion and public debate in our country must be more rational, better informed and take a long term view of our problems and our prospects. It is difficult for those in government, who are involved in day to day affairs, to often take such an informed and long term view. Institutions like yours can and must fill that gap in our public discourse. A proper and dispassionate analysis of public policies, of judicial pronouncements and of legislative action can contribute enormously to better governance. There are times when judges, public servants and others need to take decisions on sensitive matters under the pressure of time. In such situations sound legal and policy research that is easily accessible can be of invaluable assistance.

The founding members of the Indian Law Institute wanted this Institute to provide leadership in such matters. They also wanted the Institute to be a leader in legal research in the country. So, apart from being a body conducting several programs of research and training, the Institute should proactively involve itself in such activities on a much more expanded scale. It should also set standards and give general guidance to legal research in the country. It can develop relationships with corporate bodies interested in setting up private trusts and foundations for conducting research. It can build channels with the Government to procure information and data that can be of use in research work and study.

Lastly, the legal academia and scholars constitute a strong pillar of our polity. Any constructive criticism or dissent that comes from them only contributes to strengthen our democratic fabric and makes our decision-making process more alive, more sensitive to the needs of our time. It will be unwise on our part to view them as an impediment to sound governance.

I wish the Indian Law Institute and all of you many more years of service to our nation. Your past 50 years have been highly productive in the service of our nation. I pray the next 50 years will be still more creative, still more productive in the service of the people of this great country of ours."