Bhubaneswar: Urgent steps are needed to
repair cracks in the legal education system in the country
keeping in view the changing needs of society in the
era of globalisation, former Chief Justice of India G B Pattnaik has said.
Legal education should prepare professionals to meet
the new challenges and dimension of internationalisation where
the nature and organisation of law and legal practice should
undergo shift, Justice Pattnaik said.
He was speaking at the dedication ceremony of the SOA
National Institute of Law (SNIL), launched by the Siksha O
Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOAU) here yesterday.
The SNIL, which admitted its first batch of students
this academic session, will impart a five-year integrated
course in Law for Arts, science and management students.
Stating that the standard of legal education
deteriorated day-by-day in the country after Independence, he
said there was mushroom growth of institutions imparting legal
education with no method of assessment of quality and much
less a strict examining system for providing the degree.
Some of the basic reasons are that it has become open
to all and sundry and there is no check with regard to the
ability of the students at the time of entry into Law
Colleges, Justice Pattnaik said.
Secondly, teaching facilities and techniques are
outdated and the examination system for conferring the Degree
of Law continued to be traditional with little improvement in
adopting the pattern of some well known Universities. Besides,
there is an acute shortage of quality teachers.
Lack of researchers in Law and the absence of due
emphasis on research and publication in the existing Law
Schools have led to the absence of an intellectually vibrant
environment, the former chief justice observed.
Emphasising that high quality of legal education was a
pre-requisite and such need had been felt not only in the
developing and under-developed countries but also developed
nations, Justice Pattnaik said he would suggest to the Bar
Council of India and State Bar Councils to improve standard of
legal education by organising workshops on teaching techniques
and methodology on a regular basis.
PTI
