Criticism legitimate, but must respect institutions, says CJI Surya Kant

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said on Wednesday that disagreement and criticism of the judiciary are legitimate, provided they are expressed with fairness, restraint and regard for institutional integrity. Speaking in New Delhi at the second edition of the Monthly Lecture Series on Law, Justice and Legal Education, the CJI argued that the standing of the justice system rests in part on how advocates comport themselves, in court and away from it.

His address, on 'The Importance of Ethics in the Legal Profession', dwelt on conduct rather than doctrine. Justice Kant said ethical questions had acquired fresh weight in a profession increasingly shaped by public visibility and commercial interests. Legal knowledge, he submitted, supplies the tools of the trade, while ethics settles the purposes to which they are put.

"Differences of opinion and criticism are legitimate, but they must be expressed with fairness, restraint and respect for institutional integrity," he said.

He suggested that outcomes and the sharpness of argument are the conventional yardsticks by which a legal career is judged, but that a more basic test is the manner in which a lawyer arrives at those results. Courts, he said, lean on advocates to place facts and legal argument before them honestly, and the administration of justice therefore rests on mutual professional trust linking the Bar and the Bench.

Where ethical standards weaken, he warned, the consequences are not confined to the individual case but reach public confidence in the justice system as a whole. That, he indicated, makes ethics a matter of institutional consequence rather than personal propriety alone, with courts and counsel jointly answerable for how the system is seen.

He listed the qualities he expects of the profession: candour in advice, diligence in representation, fairness in fees and sensitivity towards litigants who are vulnerable. Such habits, he added, have to be formed during legal education instead of being learnt by rote as a set of rules.

"Ethical conduct must not be treated as an obligation to be recalled only when a complaint arises," Justice Kant said, urging that integrity and accountability inform everyday professional decisions. A lawyer's conduct away from court, he indicated, counts as much as conduct within it.

Prof. Venkata Rao, Vice-Chancellor of IIULER, Goa, attended as chief guest. Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Supreme Court Bar Association president Pradeep Kumar Rai also addressed the gathering.

(With inputs from media reports)