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INAUGURAL
SPEECH OF HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIJENDER JAIN, CHIEF JUSTICE, PUNJAB &
HARYANA HIGH COURT IN THE REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF INDIAN ASSOCIATION OF
LAWYERS, SCHEDULED FOR 10TH AND 11TH MARCH, AT BAR COUNCIL OF PUNJAB &
HARYANA, SECTOR 37, CHANDIGARH
....
Ch. Bhupender
Singh Hooda, Chief Minister, Haryana; Capt. Kanwaljit Singh, Cooperation
Minister, Punjab; Hon'ble Justice
S.S.Kang, former Governor of Kerala; Justice Anil Kumar, Judge, Delhi High
Court; Hon'ble Judges of this Court; Hon'ble Judges from Delhi High Court;
Shri Jitender Sharma, Senior Advocate and President, International
Association of Democratic Lawyers, who was elected
last year at Paris Conference of IADL; Shri H.S.Mattewal, Advocate
General, Punjab; Shri H.S.Hooda, Advocate General, Haryana; the Doyen of the
legal Profession- Shri H.L.Sibal; Shri R.S.Cheema, Senior Advocate; Shri
Ashwani Bakshi, Advocate; Shri Lekh Raj Sharma, Secretary of the Bar
Council; Shri Mrudhar Mardul, Senior Advocate; Shri G.K.Bansal, Senior
Advocate and veteran of Indian Association of Lawyers- Shri Virender Sood,
Senior Advocate; Shri Harbhagwan Singh, Senior Advocate; distinguished Hon'ble former Judges; members
of the legal fraternity; delegates and friends.
It gives me immense pleasure to inaugurate this Conference on a
subject, which is of a great significance in the contemporary era. I think,
it was necessary to have this Regional Conference in Chandigarh, where
delegates from Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana
have assembled today. Indian Association of Lawyers is not an Association of
Lawyers in the sense which is normally understood and that is the difference
and significance of this organisation. Indian Association of Lawyers has got
great history. The founding
fathers of the Association in the aftermath of second world war, after the
defeat of fascism in Europe,
decided to have an organisation
in order to have a new world
where there is no scope for the peace to be disturbed in times to come. It
is with this mandate the Indian Association of Lawyers was founded, in
India. We had the privilege of
having Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer; Justice D.A.Desai; Justice P.N.Bhagwati and
late Shri Krishna Menon, all coming together on the platform of Indian
Association of Lawyers. Since
then IAL has been working tirelessly in giving lead to the legal community
to dedicate in the cause of dispensation of justice, as has been mandated in
the Constitution of India. Therefore,
when we assemble here and discuss about the changing scenario of legal
profession, we must not lost sight of the fact that
when India became free, the population of India was 360 millions.
Today, we are a country over a billion people but, at the same time, we got
300 millions people living below poverty line, after 57 years of our
independence. The Preamble of the Constitution, Directive Principles of the
Constitution and the Father of the Nation conceived of a nation where there
should not be poverty because if we have poverty and illiteracy still
persisting, then freedom is not complete. We wanted freedom from hunger and
exploitation. The time has come
that Indian Lawyers and Judges
have to really find out that in a globalised
economy and free economy,
social justice should not become a casualty. Last year, there was a Conference of International Law
Association at Toronto, Canada, there I posed a question before
international community of lawyers that why there are restrictions in
service sector of the human resource of a country. If Indian IT Engineers,
Doctors, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants or other professional or other
skilled workers are competent enough to have services in other
countries, then why there is a barrier and
restrictions on free flow of human resources under a globalised
economy system. Why one country is to be preferred from a
particular part of the world and not other countries, which have got
surplus manpower in that filed. You
must have gone through what had happened in England with regard to the
Indian doctors. Under certain laws, their visas were not extended not
because they were not competent but on the plea that the doctors from
European Union will fill the jobs and not immigrant Indian doctors.
I am of the firm belief that Haryana
and Punjab are going to be the destination in the coming
decade in this country from the point of view of investment. With the
advancement of economy with multi-national corporations making their
headquarters in a big way in Gurgaon; Chandigarh; Mohali, Ludhiana; Amritsar
and Faridabad, what will the
scenario after 10 years you have to understand and for that it is necessary
that lawyers of these States must try to visualise that era of
Cyber crimes multinational agreements involving intricate question of
jurisdiction and dispute redressal mechanism will take place,
we have to compete not only with the lawyers who will be coming from
Bombay or Delhi, but also with the lawyers from outside the world and it is
in this context, when changing scenario takes place, you have to prepare to face this new
challenges by understanding the advanced tools used by others in the field
of arbitration, mediation and conciliation as well as new methodology of
adjudication in view of rapid growth of information technology. At the same
time, national interest and the interest of the Indian economy cannot be
lost sight of. I had a chance to speak in the meeting when Stock Exchange at
Cochi invited me in December, 2006 with regard to the clauses conferring
jurisdiction in the contracts entered into between the Indian party with the
foreign party. The question posed to me was that the cost of litigation in
view of the jurisdiction conferred in a foreign court either in USA or in
Europe is much higher. I told that at the time of entering a contract, the same is
done either by the owner or the person competent to enter into such contract
without realising its implication because the Indian entrepreneur feel at
that stage that they cannot dictate the terms regarding jurisdiction. One
should not loose sight of the fact that no entrepreneur comes from outside
because of the love for India. It is the economic viability or the kind of
profit which one would garner from entering such contract which is the basic
mediation for entering into a contract and it is at that stage that the
clause conferring jurisdiction should be carefully chosen so as to have the
Indian Courts and Indian institutions of arbitration to adjudicate the
dispute between the parties.
There is yet
another area which I would like to mention, i.e., Direct Foreign Investment.
In spite of 20 years debate, international
deliberations in this regard international community has not yet finalised
the definition of Foreign Direct Investment because its definition
changes from country to country. Suppose, you invest two billions
dollars in India in the stock market and after two days takes out
four billions out of
stock market. Is it F.D.I. ?. Is it beneficial for our people? Whether it
generates employment? Whether it generates
infrastructure in the country? All
the issues are to be addressed by the lawyers, jurists and Judges. I
do not like to delve much, as rightly said by Mr.Cheema that there will be
brain storming issues which you will be discussing in the Conference for two
days, i.e., the role of lawyers, the role of Judges and the role of
profession.
With these words,
I welcome you all in this beautiful city with whom I have fallen in love. I
am sure that the Reception Committee and the Organising Committee must have
taken care of all of you of providing
you with all the necessary facilities.
I deem it a
privilege to open and inaugurate this Conference.
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