MARGAO: Justice Mahesh S. Sonak, Judge Bombay High Court, advised the legal fraternity that the duty of fairness to the Court and the Judicial system itself is the first duty and every lawyer owes to the judicial system.
He delivered the inaugural lecture at the ‘GRK Judiciary Talks’, hosted by Govind Ramnath Kare College of Law, Margao.
He advised the lawyers never to suppress a relevant precedent in the belief that the other side or the judge may not know about it. He said, “Credibility is everything in legal practice. Without credibility, your intelligence or industry or presentation skills may not be of much avail.”
He cautioned the lawyers never to consciously make an incorrect statement in Court as in such cases the lawyer runs the risk of being ‘mentally blackballed’ by the judge. He added that being mentally blackballed by the judge is the practicing lawyer’s greatest occupational hazard.
Speaking further, Justice Sonak said, “The true purpose of education is not to fill your empty mind with facts and figures. Education should aim to transform your closed mind into an open mind. The function of education is also enriching the character. This means developing intellectual integrity, a sense of values, and courage.”
Cautioning against becoming fanatics, he said “Fanatic is a person who does not change his/her opinion, come what may, and does not allow you to change the topic, come what may. Usually, these are products of a very closed mind. A closed mind is not conductive to legal practice. In law, we emphasize much on the principles of natural justice. One of the most important principles is that a person must be heard before any adverse order is made against her. Now, hearing, or at any rate, an effective hearing, cannot be with open ears but a closed mind. This would be no hearing at all, that would be pretence of hearing or an empty formality.”
Others present on the dais were Nitin Kunkolienkar, President of Vidya Vikas Mandal, Adv. Pritam Morais, Vice-President of Vidya Vikas Mandal and Dr. Maria Goretti Simoes e Morais, Officiating Principal of G.R. Kare College of Law.