Senior Advocates should follow advice of Mahatma Gandhi, offer pro bono services to poor: President Ram Nath Kovind

Lawyers especially Senior Advocates should take the advice of Mahatma Gandhi and offer pro bono services to weaker sections of the society and the poor, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Saturday..President Kovind said that Gandhiji did a lot of pro bono work to help the poor and he had always been of the opinion that the best legal talent must be available to poor at reasonable rates. "Indentured labourers looked up to Gandhiji to help them in courts, Gandhiji helped them without fees. After returning to India and watching rich lawyers earning at cost of poor litigants he wrote “ best legal talent must be available to poor at reasonable rates”. I feel this advice of Bapu should be followed by legal fraternity, especially Senior Advocates," President Kovind said.Advocates should earmark some of their time in pro bono services to people from weaker sections, he added.President Kovind was speaking at the launch of 6-week long ‘Pan India Legal Awareness and Outreach Campaign’ of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).He also said that the father of the nation believed in out of court settlement and mediation."In his first major case in South Africa, Gandhiji had suggested out of court settlement. The parties agreed for an arbitrator which led to an award which favoured his client. His client was made to agree to easy installment payments. He believed out of court settlement was preferable to litigation," the President said.In his address, the President highlighted the efforts of NALSA with regard to rendering legal aid."Since our independence, we moved from judicial aristocracy to judicial democracy. NALSA has been playing an important role in this. I am informed that 1 crore 11 lakh cases have been disposed off by Lok Adalats. structure of legal services institution provides support to our judicial architecture. I expect legal services authority to make special efforts to help the marginalized," he said.Further, he underscored the importance of ensuring that women are made of legal service institutions. "As a country our goal should be to graduate from women development to women led development. Therefore, increasing the number of women in legal services institution is as important as reaching out to the largest possible number of women beneficiaries," he said concluding his speech.