Supreme Court Judge, Justice K.M. Joseph, has said that an Advocate, being a perpetual student of law, could not afford to remain ignorant and should have thorough knowledge on the subject.
Virtually inaugurating the ‘e-Libraries’ for Bar Associations of 24 outlying stations across 16 districts in the state of Odisha on Monday, Justice Joseph said the people of the country had the right to expect that their lives and properties were safe in the hands of lawyers.
Justice Joseph said a lawyer cannot afford to be ignorant of law and rather should be a perpetual student of law. He added that people of the country have the right to expect that their lives and properties are safe in the hands of lawyers.
Justice Joseph stressed upon the importance of language in the legal profession and urged the young lawyers to become familiar with the verdicts of the Constitutional Courts and remain conversant with not only law, but also with literature.
Chief Justice of Orissa High Court S. Muralidhar said lack of means to have books should not be a constraint for legal research for young lawyers, even in remote places.
Calling the Bar as a ‘nursery’ to young Judges, the Chief Justice of Orissa HIgh Court said strengthening the Bar would ultimately lead to strengthening of the judiciary.
Dr. Muralidhar revealed that online services of AIR, Manupatra and the CD-ROM version of Orissa Law Times (OLT) were being provided to the e-Libraries, apart from the e-Supreme Court Report (e-SCR), where more than 34,000 judgments of the Supreme Court were available online.
Judges of the High Court, apart from other dignitaries, attended the event.
Justice Muralidhar said in March last year, the High Court had inaugurated 30 e-Libraries for the Bars of all the District Headquarter stations and two for outlying stations at Koraput and Rourkela.
The project received overwhelming response, leading to the High Court deciding to open more such facilities in 24 Bars working at the outlying stations of several districts, where at least 100 advocates were practising, he added.
All Bar halls have been equipped with separate cabins and workstations having computer systems and internet connectivity, said the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court.
He said the purpose for providing e-libraries was to facilitate the Advocates to do legal research and represent their clients in the best possible manner before the Courts.
A release issued by the High Court said the e-Libraries enabled the lawyers to have access to various decisions and books readily available to them digitally. It also helped them in easy information retrieval.
A person could easily search for the desired information by using any search term. e-Library was more beneficial to young lawyers as they were relatively new to the profession and might not be having sufficient resources to subscribe to many journals and books, added the release.