"Bar Associations should act as whistleblowers."

Ram Jethmalani was Chairman of the Bar Council of India for four or five terms. "I was the Chairman when I left India during the Emergency and I resumed Chairmanship when I returned. Since May, I have been the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association. I still have the support and affection of the Bar, and I hope that when I am gone, people will say that he did something good for the Bar and the country."

He spoke about the duties of Bar Associations. "First and foremost, it is the duty of lawyers to assist in putting worthy people on the Bench. They must be able to make recommendations about people who they think are really fit to be on the Bench. A practising lawyer is in a position to know the character and integrity of a lawyer who is seeking promotion to the Bench. No other person is in that position, but this kind of right should be exercised by people who don't have relations who are practising lawyers."

He also said that Bar Associations can also discipline their own. "They must become whistle-blowers against the black sheep. It is a very unpopular thing to do, but someone has to do it, and that is the role of the Bar Associations."

Referring to the method of appointment of judges to the higher judiciary, he said that both the methods have failed. "Now we should try a third, and maybe even the third will not succeed, but we should try a National Judicial Commission. I have been writing about it, telling Parliament about it, and telling political parties."
Cabinet
Speaking about his experience of standing for elections, he said that the first two elections were easy."I discovered a new faculty of public speaking, and addressing large audiences and speaking about politics." After his loss to Sunil Dutt the third time, he has been a member of the Rajya Sabha as an independent member until now, when he has returned to the BJP for a sixth term."I have not spend a single rupee of my own money trying to get elected."

He denied that he had trouble surviving in the Cabinet system. "I did my work. Nobody can say I was corrupt. Now the people who wanted me out of the government have come back to me. I didn't go back to the BJP, they invited me back."

He also rejected the idea that there was a need for adjustments to the Cabinet system, saying that the focus on systems was inappropriate. The focus instead should be on the people who man these systems. Referring to A.Raja's (then) continued presence in the government, he said that the Prime Minister is a co-conspirator if he had a duty to act, and he did not act to remove the corrupt.

"The Law Minister is the least important member of the Cabinet." As Urban Development Minister, even before the Right to Information Act, he had opened up the files of his department to public scrutiny.

He also spoke about his habit of playing badminton in the morning and having a "few whiskies at night." He said that he prefers Black Label, but cautioned that alcohol should not take control. "At my age, it is an elixir!"

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Ram Jethmalani
• senior advocate
• Bar Council of India
• Bar Associations
• National Judicial Commission
• judicial appointments
• elections
• Rajya Sabha
• Cabinet
• badminton
• whiskey

[kgzulu]

Ram Jethmalani right from law on to politics and then on to scotch whiskey!! Amazing. 'Any scotch is better than no scotch'. I don't know if he stole this line from somewhere but it certainly has stuck. As controversial a figure as he is, it is hard not to love Ram Jethmalani.