Opinion Ideas of propriety must not be used by courts to control and silence lawyers
Nandita Rao writes: It appears that over the past decade, the relationship between the bar and bench has gone from one of mutual respect and equality to the one between ruler and ruled
Of no less importance is the fact that propriety has no objective yardstick by which anyone’s conduct can be tested. Norms of propriety once legitimised the forced marriage of a prepubescent girl to a man old enough to be her grandfather. They permitted the buying and selling of human beings as slaves and endorsed the silence of a judicial system and civil society while men, women and children were deprived of all civil rights and gassed to death, simply on account of the religion they professed. Propriety is a dangerous yardstick by which to judge a person, because in a society whose polity and institutions are threatened by moral decay and ideological corruption, it often justifies the silencing of truth, the criminalisation of dissent and the perpetuation of cowardice in the face of injustice and blatant illegality. Of no less importance is the fact that propriety has no objective yardstick by which anyone’s conduct can be tested. There are still communities where educating a daughter could result in social ostracism, while dowry demands, despite being illegal, are accepted without a murmur.
It is, therefore, unfortunate that the legal profession remains largely regulated by norms of propriety that are disproportionately used to control the bar and keep it from challenging any actions of the bench that may be opaque and arbitrary. While orders can be challenged by appeal, improper roster management, unfair collegium recommendations, blatant bias in favour of select counsels and conflict of interest in hearings fall in the grey zone of impropriety, which affect the dispensation of justice and yet have no formal mechanism of redressal. It is assumed that the bar and the open court system would ensure that these actions are called out and corrected. However, a lawyer’s licence can be denied due to “ungentlemanly conduct” under the Bar Council rules. A lawyer can be denied designation as a senior advocate, despite obvious and demonstrated legal merit and integrity. Just as easily, recognition can be withdrawn from those designated as senior, without any criteria being established a priori to define the “propriety” expected of lawyers in the face of grave impropriety by the bench. The lack of consistency and uniformity in bestowing these punishments further the perception of persecution.
Share
