Mr. Amarjit Singh Chandhiok:

Former Additional Solicitor General of India, a Practicing Senior Advocate (equivalent to Queen’s Counsel in England), Mr. AMARJIT SINGH CHANDHIOK has enviable credentials. He has two doctorate degrees (honoris causa), is a qualified trainer for mediators, holds accreditation and certifications from SIMI, Singapore, and Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University, USA where he is also an International Honorary Senior Fellow. A gold medallist in the University (LL.B.), he also has a Bachelor’s degree in Arts. A well-known figure in arbitration and mediation, the Former Principal Counsel, European Union Commission (the first Indian lawyer to hold the said position) is recipient of several recognitions, including Advocate of the Year award by The Bar Association of India (2023). He has addressed august gatherings at various places in India and abroad.

Arts and Law are very diverse areas of interests. What prompted you to study such different streams and how do they complement each other in your current profession as an advocate?

Arts and law are diverse areas of study. When it comes to law, they intersect religions. It deals with the essential principles of society and does not allow in its scheme of sustenance unscientific dogmas or arbitrary fancies. Law sees truth in its many-sidedness and thrives on its saving power. It has to embrace within its synthesis the whole gamut of human spirit. Here science and social sciences blend and form a crucial nexus that influences policy making and societal development. Law evolves like nature, with time.

I studied science till my school final (Senior Cambridge) and gained bachelor’s degrees in arts and law from Delhi University. Study of science helped me enhance my analytical skills whereas arts helped me understand history and evolution of law.

What interests you the most in the legal profession and why?

What interests me the most in the legal profession is knowing the truth in each case. Each case is a quest for justice. Like air and water, justice is another natural element needed for humans to thrive. This is also the answer to why the legal profession interests me. If I can help secure someone justice, that is a matter of satisfaction. Learning is at its best here. Then, there is good camaraderie as well.

What are the new emerging areas of the legal profession which could be gamechangers.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is gaining momentum. Timelines have been fixed for completion of Arbitration and in mediation. Arbitration and mediation have been resorted to in commercial cities manifold. In mediation, the settlement can be executed merely by filing an execution petition and does not have to go to court for approval. Execution of arbitral award has also become faster. Unless there are sufficient reasons, the award would be in operation.

Another movement is mediation which finds place in history since the time of Mahabharat. However, it has been modernized into a structured process where the disputants themselves are made to participate and aided to find a solution. This is people-friendly, pocket-friendly, and least time-consuming. And to give this statutory recognition, the Mediation Act 2023 has already been enacted.

If we could say something of a game-changer that is the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of 2016, which has also been amended proactively. This made a change in recovery as well as restructuring moribund corporate entities. This has set in evolving a special jurisprudence and is creating a special kind of professionals, called the Resolution Professional (RP). The other game-changer, if it could be called so, is the entry of foreign law firms and lawyers into India, which is at its threshold now.

Litigations are usually slow-moving, which is a burden on the system as well as the petitioner. What can be done to rectify this woe?

It is reported that over 5 crore cases, including over 169,000 cases aged more than 30 years in district and high courts, are pending. This makes India with the largest number of pending cases in the world. Low strength of judges and other staff play a vital role. Other two drawbacks are inadequate funding and infrastructure deficiency. Few months ago, the Chief Justice of India said that the Supreme Court will soon be linked to the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), a repository of data relating to pendency of cases and disposal rate of courts right from the taluka level. The intent is laudable. Along with accurate statistics, what we need are action plans to address the problem. A total modernization of our system is essential. Apart from the data recording, filling up vacancies of judges in all courts right from the taluka level, creating more courts and appointing more judges in such a ratio befitting to tackle the backlog of cases in a time-bound manner as well as to avoid backlogs in future, are essential.

Vision, plan, and implementation have to go hand-in-hand.

As a legal luminary and member of several legal forums, what role do you play in sensitising the young lawyers on professional ethics, etiquettes and the response that you have received?

As one who has spent about five decades at the Bar, I used to first remind youngsters that this profession is essentially a service oriented one. Our legal system is based on the rule of law. Respect for rule of law and sensitivity to human rights should always be in their mind while discharging their professional duties. I do tell youngsters this. The response is mostly happy though I had to see and hear about certain disappointing moments not very rarely.

What do awards and honours mean to you?

Awards and honours are good and act like a pat on one’s back. Now the time is awards’ time. Every other day one can hear of some kind of an award. Maybe, it is an inevitable part of time or change. The real award is the appreciation by the court and colleagues when you present your case satisfactorily and judiciously correct as an officer of the court.

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