Need to declare legal professionals as frontline workers: CJI

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Saturday expressed concern that poor connectivity in rural, tribal, remote and hilly areas is adversely impacting the pace of justice delivery and is also depriving thousands of young lawyers across the country of their livelihood.

The Chief Justice also cited need to declare the legal professionals and associated functionaries as frontline workers.

Justice Ramana said, "A whole generation of lawyers is being pushed out of the system due to digital divide".

The Chief Justice made these remarks during the course of the panel discussion on the launch of a book 'Anomalies in Law and Justice' by former Supreme Court judge, Justice R.V. Raveendran.

Justice Ramana said the matter of connectivity figured prominently in the two-day conference of Chief Justices of High Courts held recently.

The Chief Justice said that he recently wrote to the Minister of Law, Communications, and IT citing the connectivity issues.

He urged the Minister to take measures to bridge the digital divide and also to evolve a mechanism to help the advocates who have lost livelihood due to pandemic and who are in dire need of financial assistance.

"The need to declare the legal professionals and associated functionaries as frontline workers and the need to vaccinate them all on priority was also highlighted in a communication addressed to the minister," said Justice Ramana.

Earlier, while releasing the book, Justice Ramana praised Justice Raveendran, saying he played a significant role through his judicial pronouncements in helping India realise its true potential in the liberalized economic environment.

The Chief Justice emphasised that Justice Raveendran believed in Lord Denning's words "that the best judge is one who is less known and seen in the media".

He said it was Justice Raveendran who, for the first time, in the case of Booz Allen, recognized such excessive intervention as being detrimental to an arbitration friendly image for India.

"It is only after his judgment that the Supreme Court and other High Courts followed the trend to interpret the law in an arbitration-friendly manner.

Ultimately, the noble intentions laid down in Booz Allen were fully realized through the recent amendment to the Arbitration Act and subsequent judicial interpretation", he added.