Disruptive technology poses challenges to lawyers: President
Belagavi (Karnataka), Sep 15 : With the time span between innovation and its application shrinking, President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday called upon lawyers to respond quickly as disruptive technology threw up challenges for the legal fraternity.
"As time span between innovation and application is shortening, it poses challenges for law in genetic engineering, bioethics and artificial intelligence. Lawyers have to respond quickly. I hope our legal minds will put their thoughts into it,a said Kovind here in Karnataka's northwest region, about 500 km from Bengaluru.
Inaugurating the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Karnataka Law Society (KLS) and Raja Lakhamgouda Law College, Kovind said in the age of technology and entrepreneurship, the fourth Industrial Revolution (4.0) was changing how people live and work and the aspirations of the younger generation.
"Our educational institutions have to become compatible with this quest for innovation and excellence. They have to become compatible with the 21st century," he asserted.
Terming the law humans wrote was the basis of civilisation for discipline and orderliness, the President said even lawyers and judges were seekers of truth.
"That is why so many lawyers were part of the national movement. Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar were both lawyers with a spirit of public service. The Constitution is a modern scripture of our national identity," Kovind recalled.
Hinting that India was in the midst of dramatic changes, the President said decisions being taken would influence not just in the near future, but the rest of the century.
"We have young and talented population and an economy, brimming with opportunities. In the previous quarter, the GDP grew at 8.2 per cent, which indicates the pace and our potential. We live in an age of technology and of entrepreneurship," he reiterated.
With the overhauling of the regulatory framework for higher education and upgrading it to meet the present needs, the President said graded autonomy was granted to 60 top universities across the country.
"In addition, 20 institutions of higher education have been promoted as institutes of eminence, which enable them to recruit faculty and revamp the curricula for achieving global standards," added Kovind.
Besides Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Supreme Court Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, an alumni of the college, participated in the function.
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‘Pay worker before sweat dries’: Madras HC invokes prophet’s teaching to settle lawyer’s dues
Madurai: Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad to emphasise principles of fairness in labour jurisprudence, the Madras High Court has directed the Madurai City Municipal Corporation to settle the unpaid legal fees of a former standing counsel. Justice G.R. Swaminathan, in an order passed on Saturday, referred to the prophetic principle, “pay the worker before his sweat dries”, observing that this tenet is a facet of fairness eminently applicable to service and labour law.
The court was hearing a plea filed by P. Thirumalai, who served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for over 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. Thirumalai contended that the civic body had failed to pay outstanding dues amounting to Rs 13.05 lakh for his representation in approximately 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts. The current petition was filed after the Corporation rejected a substantial part of his claim following a previous court direction to consider his representation.
Addressing the practical difficulties faced by the petitioner, who stated he could not afford to engage a clerk to obtain certified copies of the 818 judgments to substantiate his work, Justice Swaminathan devised a pragmatic solution. The court permitted the former counsel to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) with a list of cases. The DLSA has been directed to procure the certified copies within two months, with the costs to be borne by the corporation and later deducted from the petitioner’s final settlement.
While the court acknowledged the Corporation's stance that fee bills must be in order, it ordered the civic body to settle the dues within two months of receiving the records from the DLSA.
However, citing the petitioner’s 18-year delay in challenging the non-payment, the court ruled that the settlement would be made without interest.
Beyond the specific relief granted to the petitioner, the single-judge bench made strong observations regarding the administration of legal fees and public funds. Justice Swaminathan termed the petitioner’s claim a "pittance" compared to the number of his appearances and expressed concern over the disparity in payments within the legal field. He noted that while "scandalously high amounts" are often paid to certain senior counsels and law officers by government and quasi-government bodies, others struggle to receive basic dues. The court observed that good governance requires public funds to be drawn on a measured basis and not distributed capriciously to a favoured few.
The Judge also flagged the "embarrassment" caused by the high number of Additional Advocate Generals (AAGs) in the state, noting that the appointment of nearly a dozen officers leads to work being allotted unnecessarily. He criticized the frequent practice of government counsel seeking adjournments on the pretext that an engaged AAG is appearing elsewhere. Justice Swaminathan expressed hope that such practices would cease in the Madurai Bench and that the Additional Advocate Generals would "turn a new leaf" from 2026.
