REQUESTING YOUR SUPPORT & VOTE
Even in my remotest dream, I never thought I would contest an election.
Destiny had other plans and I was the chosen one. When I was handed over a Disciplinary Notice by the Bar Council of Kerala and a contempt notice at the behest of a sitting Judge of the High Court of Kerala, I stood up to fight for Justice because the powers that be thought that the life and career of an advocate is easy to be destroyed.
After having put up my defence, I approached the KHCAA to take up steps so that no other advocate ever faces the situation I have faced. What I faced was sheer abuse of power by Constitutional Authorities who thought their power extended to finish life and career of an advocate by making false allegations. Unfortunately, I saw an Association that was scared to even write a letter to the Chief Justice. The Association was content with sloganeering and taking out marches even for the most heinous police atrocities on advocates.
I wanted change and I decided to contest elections and the members of the Association entrusted me with the Association by electing me as the President of the Association for 2024. I honestly did not know what was in store for me or what I was expected to do. My journey of the past year and the work I did has a story and the support of the Executive Committee:
The advocates and police have had lot of friction for years because of the nature of their duties. Unfortunately, in some cases the Police overstepped and the Advocates were at the receiving end. The normal course adopted before the 2024 committee took charge was to pass a resolution and take out a march with sloganeering. This Committee had very clear ideas and we had decided, none of the advocates would go out on the road with their robes on in protest or indulge in sloganeering.
While many States have Advocates Protection Laws, the State of Kerala has none. The KHCAA has filed a Writ Petition to ensure that advocates have adequate protection and through guidelines the KHCAA is attempting to protect the advocate community. The KHCAA also took steps against specific cases in which the advocates were attacked or humiliated and some of them are:
One of the advocates had to visit the police Station to get compliance with a court’s order and the police humiliated the advocate by their conduct. The KHCAA filed a contempt and pursued relentlessly until the police officer involved was convicted of the Contempt.
The police officer physically assaulted an advocate who questioned the police arrest of his client who stepped out of the courtroom on bail. As many as 15 Advocates Association boycotted the Court proceedings. I mentioned the matter before the Court and the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala initiated suo motu proceedings against the concerned officers and the Court is considering framing of guidelines.
The most shocking of the incident was goons clearing an advocate office overnight and taking possession of the place. Over 1000 case files were strewn over the public road and the entire incident was a shocker to the General Public because goons ransacked an advocates office and the police did not take action. It shook the confidence of the public from the entire Bar. The Bar had no choice but to boycott the Court until the culprits were arrested. The KHCAA has assured the Haripad Bar Association of its full cooperation and to support it on all litigation.
The future of any Bar is in its young advocates. The KHCAA has tried its best to develop its younger members through several initiatives:
The KHCAA has developed a Research Group where young advocates will be mentored by senior advocates in writing research papers or other publications. This group will also meet every week where the members can share knowledge and make presentations thereby helping them hone their presentation skills. The Continuing Legal Education will be moved to this group and this group will organize lectures by well-known experts in various fields
The KHCAA has this year on introduced the Justice T.S.Krishnamoorthy Iyer Memorial oration as an annual affair. This year’s lecture was delivered by Justice. K.V.Viswanathan, Judge, Supreme Court of India. The KHCAA has also decided to make the constitutional day lectures an annual affair and this year’s lecture will be delivered by Justice D.Y.Chandrachud, Former Chief Justice of India on 6 December 2024. The KHCAA intends to have atleast 5 more such annual lectures in addition to the other lectures that would be delivered by advocates visiting the High Court of Kerala
The KHCAA has this year introduced 13 Scholarships this year. This would be a record number of Scholarships for any of the KHCAA committees ever. Justice T.S. Krishnamoorthy fellowship for 5 female advocates, each worth Rs.25,000/- who are first-generation advocates and have practice below 5 years. Justice K Sankarasubbier fellowship for 5 male advocates, each worth Rs.25,000/- who are first-generation advocates and have practice below 5 years. There will be 2 endowment awards of Rs.50,000 each, one for a male advocate and one for a female advocate with less than 15 years of practice by the Lakshminarayanaiyer Memorial Trust. These awards would be for advocates who have shown excellence by writing research articles/publications in addition to their commitment to the legal cause by taking up social causes and representing poorer sections of society pro bono. The Senior Advocates Association is instituting a young lawyer award of Rs.50,000.
The KHCAA is trying to initiate talks with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and Singapore Law society to check the possibility of having exchange programme for young advocates
The KHCAA is initiating talks with the industry leaders to set up centres of excellence. A few IT companies from the Technopark / Infopark would look to have a centre for excellence in Technology laws while the Cochin Shipyard might be interested in a centre for excellence in Maritime laws
During my election campaign I had called up an advocate who was suffering from Blood Cancer and was finding it difficult to fund the treatment. I had two other such calls and in my mind I had made notes. The first thing I did as soon as I took the chair was to get insurance companies and negotiate with them some welfare schemes. The group schemes were much beyond affordability and I had to give up on it, but them we got a tailormade scheme.
LIC and New India Assurance combined a scheme and offered Medical insurance to advocates who would get their entire premium paid returned after 25 years. This means that if they were paying premiums for medical insurance, it was like a recurring fixed deposit they were making and the advantage was a medical cover they would get throughout the period.
This scheme is one of its kind, but unfortunately not many advocates have opted for it. However, this scheme is available for all advocates, registered clerks and even the staff of High Court of Kerala.
The KHCAA has been relentlessly pursuing various issues related to e-filing. The KHCAA is fully aware of the need for technology, but had raised issues that result in denial of access to justice by the digital divide. The one sided approach of e-filing by the High Court is what is opposed by the KHCAA and the KHCAA will continue to oppose all these one sided measures. The most basic requirement of bandwidth allocation has not happened at the High Court or at the District Courts. Therefore, e-filing without even the basic facility is a farce and the KHCAA will bring out a white paper to show the farce claim of showcasing kerala as being in the forefront of e-filing. The KHCAA’s efforts of forcing the administration with the farce e-filing by refusing to file physical copies was torpedoed by fringe elements and political party leaders who remain unaffected by e-filing
This need of the advocates were pending for the last 15 years. I should give credit to the Secretary, KHCAA who made the application for this with the Building Committee within the first week of us taking charge. There were too many obstacles put in by the Public Works Department and it took a good nine months for the KHCAA to get the permission. Once permissions were granted, we started looking for companies for funding and Senior Advocates Jaju Babu and Santosh Mathew came out with a plan to have something permanent in the name of Senior Advocate K.P.Dandapani. On 2nd December 2024, the KHCAA dedicated the Pathway as Dandapani’s Law Lane.
The library at the High Court required a serious makeover because it did not look like a library and more of a record room, dimly lit with no good air circulation. With the generous contribution of Lakshminarayanaiyer Memorial Trust, the entire library was transformed and the computer facilities was substantially increased and we have about 30 computers for the members to use. Many of these also have subscription of Law journals
When the KHCAA received complaints of operations of an NGO from the Justice Janakiamma Hall, the KHCAA acted swiftly to ensure that no parties are allowed to encroach upon the space given to the KHCAA. The Hon’ble High Court has now ordered KWFL to remove all its boards and to leave the space for all advocates to use. However, by mere might of a handful, these women continue to occupy the space to the disadvantage of hundreds of young women advocates. The KHCAA is waiting for permission from the Hon’ble High Court to renovate the entire ladies room so that all lady members can enjoy its facilities.
The existence of Lawyers News Network with sitting high court judges, Judicial officers, State law officers, journalists and selected advocates was being used by a small group to bring disrepute to the Judicial institution. The KHCAA swiftly acted on it and the Hon’ble Chief Justice ordered a vigilance inquiry and due to KHCAA’s relentless pursuit, all judicial officers and High Court judges had left the group
The KHCAA has done its best and if not for the petty political fights that were triggered by fringe elements and political party leaders working for their personal interests at the cost of advocates, the KHCAA could have dedicated more time to pursue other developmental activities. I can proudly claim that the KHCAA acted fairly and in the interests of the Advocates community. The only criteria used while taking decisions was only one question: Would our decision help the larger majority of the Advocates Community? If the answer was yes, the steps were taken irrespective of what the consequences were….
more updates on scholarships and other KHCAA initiatives soon...