Law Is A Noble Profession, When Entrusted With A Brief, A Lawyer Should Try To Protect Clients' Interests: Kerala HC

On Wednesday, the Kerala High Court made a series of crucial statements on the status and duties of lawyers vis-a-vis their clients and the administration of justice in general.

Culling the principles from case law, Justice R Narayana Pisharadi said,

"When a lawyer is entrusted with a brief, he is expected to follow the norms of professional ethics and try to protect the interests of his clients, in relation to whom he occupies a position of trust"

Iterating a lawyer's nodal role in the administration of justice, the Court said,

"In the administration of law and justice, lawyers have to play an important part. They are, in a sense, officers of the court and as such they are given special rights and privileges..."

The Court's remarks came in the course of an order dismissing a lawyer's petition seeking a quash of criminal breach of trust proceedings against him.

The lawyer was a legal officer in M/s Cherupushpam Kuries (a kind of chit fund) and was tasked with instituting recovery proceedings on amounts owed by its members. The company alleged that he misappropriated funds demarcated for instituting suits and provided false suit numbers to the company as if he had instituted the suits.

Challenging the criminal breach of trust proceedings against him by the company, the counsel for the petitioner averred that he had been defrauded by his clerk.

The petitioner insisted that he had attempted to institute proceedings after the clerk's fraud was discovered.

Justice Pisharadi, however, held that the veracity of the petitioner's submissions could be decided only at trial and not in a quash proceeding. For the proceedings at hand, there seemed a prima facie case disclosed, the Court concluded,

Since the petitioner in the case was a lawyer, the Court used the occasion to make the following observations about lawyers and their duties towards the law and clients:

1. Lawyers as officers of the court have special rights and privileges, which had to be zealously safeguarded. Manak Lal v. Dr. Prem Chand
   
2. Law is a noble profession, monopoly conferred on the the legal profession by Parliament is coupled with a responsibility towards the clients. V.C. Rangadurai v. D.Gopalan
3. Nothing was to be done by any member of the fraternity to lessen the confidence the public reposed in its fidelity, honesty, and integrity. V.C. Rangadurai v. D.Gopalan

With these observations, the Court dismissed the petition.

Click here to download the Order