Indian Supreme Court Wants Lawyers To Pass Fitness Test To Appear In Court
The Supreme Court of India has said that the mental and physical fitness of lawyers should be tested to prove that they are able to conduct trials in criminal cases and to make sure that litigants don’t suffer on account of their competence.
A bench, consisting of Justices J S Khehar and Adarsh K Goel, said that the Advocates Act needed to be reviewed. The observation appeared while the court was rejecting the plea of the accused in the Uber rape case, who sought to recall of witnesses on the ground that his lawyer was incompetent.
According to the court, “The interest of justice might suffer in case the counsel conducting the trial is physically or mentally unfit on account of any disability. The interest of society is important and instead of trials being conducted again on account of unfitness of the counsel, reform may be necessary so that such a situation does not arise.”
