Supreme Court Judge M.M. Sundresh on Saturday said that almost 7 out of 10 lawyers who graduated from college were unfit to be in the legal profession. He was speaking at an event held at ITC Grand Chola here to felicitate renowned lawyer A.K. Mylsamy, who has completed 60 years in the legal profession. Mr. Mylsamy’s biography was released at the event.
Describing the completion of 60 years as a significant achievement, Justice Sundresh said the legal profession was “sacred” and a few bad examples should not tarnish the entire profession. “We have to accept that almost 7 out of 10 lawyers who graduate from college are unfit to be in this profession. This is also a reality. Judges and lawyers alone cannot change it; society has to change,” he said.
Touching upon the huge number of cases pending in India, he said: “Almost 6 crore cases are pending in courts. Even if we say 1 crore cases are new, there are still 5 crore old cases pending. One person cannot be singled out as the reason for this: judges, lawyers and even the government could be the reason.”
“The number of cases should increase — in a good society, cases about rights should increase and criminal cases should decrease. We have to work collectively towards that,” he added.
Rajya Sabha member and former Union Minister P. Chidambaram said there was a time when only privileged communities were in this profession.
He urged Mr. Mylsamy to speak and write about how the law could be simplified so that it could be made a friend rather than a threat to the citizen. “Yesterday I saw a report, which was quite shocking, that said 20% of all practising lawyers in the courts of India may not have a law qualification. The Chief Justice of India has ordered an inquiry into it. It is the equivalent of quackery in medicine,” he said.
Mr. Mylsamy thanked his colleagues, friends and family for having stood by him over the decades.
Advocate General P.S. Raman alias Bharat Raman; member of A.K. Mylsamy and Associates’ partner, M. Subathra; and VIT Chancellor G. Viswanathan were present.
Published – January 28, 2025 12:22 am IST