LEGAL AID IN INDIA: RETUNING PHILOSOPHICAL CHORDS

Legal aid in India has evolved over the last few decades since 42nd Amendment to the Indian Constitution. This paper attempts to provide philosophical underpinnings suggesting how legal aid model has evolved over the years and excogitate a newer trajectory for its future evolution. It delves into we...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: S. Chandra, N. Y. Solanki
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Publshing House V.Ема 2016-06-01
Series:BRICS Law Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.bricslawjournal.com/jour/article/view/17
_version_ 1797855860814249984
author S. Chandra
N. Y. Solanki
author_facet S. Chandra
N. Y. Solanki
author_sort S. Chandra
collection DOAJ
description Legal aid in India has evolved over the last few decades since 42nd Amendment to the Indian Constitution. This paper attempts to provide philosophical underpinnings suggesting how legal aid model has evolved over the years and excogitate a newer trajectory for its future evolution. It delves into weighing Kant’s imperfect duty justifying a charity based regime and marks a transition to utilitarian model suggesting requirement of institutional need to address issues of basic liberty of ‘access to justice.’ It also spells out Rawls’ principles of justice and attempts to explore their applicability in the Indian context, to chart out a road map for future. While contrasting different models on legal aids, it makes a finding that, India doesn’t accord priority to liberty of access to justice. The Indian Supreme Court has emerged as a bastion of liberty but the finer details of the enactment has been messed up by the Indian lawmakers. The lower compensation to lawyers and lack of alternative incentives in attracting established litigators, testifies this. There is a convergence in Kantian duty of benevolence and Rawls’ liberty principle but in the world of moral relativism, a fair compensation must precede before imposing any obligation on lawyers to take up pro bono matters, as doing so, is likely to compromise their ‘true needs.’
first_indexed 2024-04-09T20:30:45Z
format Article
id doaj.art-1672aa2e976147f989c0bcca87bbb8c6
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2409-9058
2412-2343
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-09T20:30:45Z
publishDate 2016-06-01
publisher Publshing House V.Ема
record_format Article
series BRICS Law Journal
spelling doaj.art-1672aa2e976147f989c0bcca87bbb8c62023-03-30T20:04:00ZengPublshing House V.ЕмаBRICS Law Journal2409-90582412-23432016-06-0122688510.21684/2412-2343-2015-2-2-15-2116LEGAL AID IN INDIA: RETUNING PHILOSOPHICAL CHORDSS. Chandra0N. Y. Solanki1Jindal Global Law School, SonipatJindal Global Law School, SonipatLegal aid in India has evolved over the last few decades since 42nd Amendment to the Indian Constitution. This paper attempts to provide philosophical underpinnings suggesting how legal aid model has evolved over the years and excogitate a newer trajectory for its future evolution. It delves into weighing Kant’s imperfect duty justifying a charity based regime and marks a transition to utilitarian model suggesting requirement of institutional need to address issues of basic liberty of ‘access to justice.’ It also spells out Rawls’ principles of justice and attempts to explore their applicability in the Indian context, to chart out a road map for future. While contrasting different models on legal aids, it makes a finding that, India doesn’t accord priority to liberty of access to justice. The Indian Supreme Court has emerged as a bastion of liberty but the finer details of the enactment has been messed up by the Indian lawmakers. The lower compensation to lawyers and lack of alternative incentives in attracting established litigators, testifies this. There is a convergence in Kantian duty of benevolence and Rawls’ liberty principle but in the world of moral relativism, a fair compensation must precede before imposing any obligation on lawyers to take up pro bono matters, as doing so, is likely to compromise their ‘true needs.’https://www.bricslawjournal.com/jour/article/view/17legal aidimmanuel kantjohn rawlsindian supreme courtprinciple of fair equality of opportunityliberty of access to justice
spellingShingle S. Chandra
N. Y. Solanki
LEGAL AID IN INDIA: RETUNING PHILOSOPHICAL CHORDS
BRICS Law Journal
legal aid
immanuel kant
john rawls
indian supreme court
principle of fair equality of opportunity
liberty of access to justice
title LEGAL AID IN INDIA: RETUNING PHILOSOPHICAL CHORDS
title_full LEGAL AID IN INDIA: RETUNING PHILOSOPHICAL CHORDS
title_fullStr LEGAL AID IN INDIA: RETUNING PHILOSOPHICAL CHORDS
title_full_unstemmed LEGAL AID IN INDIA: RETUNING PHILOSOPHICAL CHORDS
title_short LEGAL AID IN INDIA: RETUNING PHILOSOPHICAL CHORDS
title_sort legal aid in india retuning philosophical chords
topic legal aid
immanuel kant
john rawls
indian supreme court
principle of fair equality of opportunity
liberty of access to justice
url https://www.bricslawjournal.com/jour/article/view/17
work_keys_str_mv AT schandra legalaidinindiaretuningphilosophicalchords
AT nysolanki legalaidinindiaretuningphilosophicalchords