Age no bar for lawyers.NEW DELHI (NDTV), November 17, 2007:
Senior citizen lawyers have won a case against the Delhi Bar Council for a right to practise after retirement. Senior citizens have argued that they have age, experience and qualifications so why should they be left out?
Prem Chand Kashyap 60, retired in January as a manager at the Reserve Bank of India. After 35 years in banking, he wants to spend what he describes as his golden years working as a lawyer.
In 1975 he graduated with a law degree. But then the Delhi Bar Council ruled that it would not enrol any new lawyer above the age of 45.
Kashyap said, "I had decided that I would practise law after retirement. This Bar Council decision was a big setback to my plans. I thought it was very unfair, I have good health, the education and the competence to be a lawyer so why should I be stopped? So I decided to fight."
Kashyap was not alone. At least 6 others joined him and appealed against the decision in the Delhi High Court. Six months later before the court can decide the Delhi Bar Council has changed its mind.
This means that 61-year-old Sudhi Kumar Bharadwaj gets to have his day in court. He retired as the Chief Income Tax Commissioner of Mumbai in June last year. Having already acquired an LLB degree in 1979 he wanted to put his knowledge and expertise in tax-related matters to good use.
Bharadwaj said, ''From talking to people I could gather that they were probably feeling threatened that a large number of people are trying to enter the profession. People like us would affect their practice.''
These senior citizens will come up against this sort of prejudice among younger lawyers.
Sunil K Mittal of Delhi Bar Council said, '' We have often seen that lawyers above 45 just get into the profession for time pass. They don't contribute anything, engage in malpractise and crowd in.''
But some of the country's finest lawyers disagree with that. Harish Salve a former solicitor general said, ''Take a senior IAS officer who's spent his life in government service, who's worked very closely with the government. Who has seen the Constitution in action, who has seen the systems in action and he does his law. I think he'll make an excellent lawyer and will have great commitment.''
However law continues to be a degree of choice for many of those in public service, politics and perhaps the Bar Council has done well to recognise that there cannot be a cut-off age.
By Neha Khanna
Copyright 2007
