Challenges Facing the Indian Legal System

Prof. Mohan Gopal an alumnus of CLC DU and LLm and Phd. From Havard Law School, Director of Rajiv
Gandhi Institute of Contemporary studies, presented his views on the Challenges facing the Indian Legal
System.

He started by citing the Incident where he was a delegate to a conference in Athens addressed by the
greatest contemporary philosopher Jürgen Habermas, who stressed on the Constitutionalisation
of International Law.

Habermas strongly advocated for the adoption of the EU(European Union) model of
Constitutionalisation of International Law without compromising the individual and
National Sovereignty.

Prof. Mohan Gopal had commented in the conference that the Indian Constitution had already
addressed such an issue long ago by uniting a more diverse geography into Indian Union. He
acknowledged the foresightedness of the framers of the Indian constitution on completing a task much
ahead of its time.

Then he moved to the core Topic:

The Constitution of India is based on the principle of swaraj (individual sovereignty).

The five Gandhian ideals that form the soul the Constitution of India are:

Satya :Quest for truth should the primary focus of any Law

Ahimsa: The focus of law should be ensure peaceful co-existence in society

Antodaya: The primary focus should be ones who are at the bottom of the pyramid

Sarvodaya: The larger objective should be the benefit of all

Sovereignty: Independence in individual matters

Challenges :

1.a) Worldwide struggle for democratizing Social order viz. Arab Spring, Occupy Wall
Street,Naxalism in India

b)Power shift from one west to East, the rise Asian Countries specially China
c)Battle between northern Europe and Southern Europe

2)Emergence of new technologies ,specially Biotech and telecommunication without

guidelines for use, impacting various aspects of life.
3)Environmental Changes

Ways to meet these Challenges:

1) Change the relationship between ILS and the Poor
2) Democratisation of the constitution specially the portion copied and pasted from Govt. of
India Act 1935.
3) Democratising law making process: those sections which are being impacted by a new law
should be consulted while making a certain Law.
4) Adopting the Jury system and divesting the powers concentrated in a Judge: Five powers
centralized in a Judge: a)Going though facts
b)Framing of Charges c)Checking principles of law d)Application of the principles
e)Pronouncing Judgement
5) Democratising the process of selection of Judges
6)Making the Bar Council, the lawyers and Judges accountability
7)Democratising Legal Education: Only 15% youth have access to University Education
8) Democratising the Content: Law is too technical a subject for the common people to
understand. It should be made easy to understand for the common people
9) Judicial disability commission on the lines of Maryland should be instituted
10) Last but not the least getting to the heart of the Constitution and implementing the
Gandhian ideals the way they were intended by the framers of the Constitution.