Former chief justice of India R C Lahoti Friday pleaded for introducing reforms in law for rendering expeditious social justice through alternative dispute settlement mechanisms, besides re-orienting the legal education system to meet the social imperatives.
Inaugurating the first three-day South Asian conference of law teachers on 'Clinical Legal Education' organised by the V M Salgaocar College of Law, in association with the Menon Institute of Legal Advocacy Training in Panaji, Lahoti called for relevant changes in the judiciary to prevent desperate litigants from taking law into their own hands, "like in Bihar".
Stating that the role of the lawyers had assumed more importance in the 21st century, as against the 20th century when Mahatma Gandhi spiritualised the practice of law through self sacrifice, he said modern lawyers are expected to meet peoples' expectations through education and legal aid programmes so as to render social justice and uphold human rights.
Hailing the concept of training in law, the former chief justice said it required imparting quality education, combined with ethics, so that the graduates face challenges of the future as they are expected to contribute to policy making in these days of judicial activism and alternate dispute resolution for speedy justice.