Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday underscored the need to “rethink, reimagine and reform” legal systems even as Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud pointed out that government law officers should remain impervious to the politics of the day and conduct themselves with dignity in court.
The Chief Justice said law officers, from the Attorney-General and the Advocates-General of the States, whose posts are envisaged in the Constitution, to others such as the Solicitor-General, Additional Solicitors-General and Additional Advocates-General, were the first point of contact between the court and the government. They must uphold the honour of the legal profession through exemplary conduct from both within and outside the courtroom.
“The greatest glory of the Attorney-General is not to win cases for the government but to ensure that justice is done to the people,” Chief Justice Chandrachud quoted from jurist Nani Palkhivala’s letter to Soli Sorabjee on the latter’s appointment as India’s top law officer in 1989.
