Former Chief Justice of India BR Gavai told the Bar Association of Sri Lanka that an independent Bar plays a vital role in protecting constitutional democracy and citizens’ rights, urging lawyers to have the courage to defend institutional integrity “when silence is convenient.”
Addressing the BASL on the topic “Role of the Independent Bar in protecting the constitution and the citizens,” Justice Gavai said the Bar and the Bench are complementary institutions that together uphold accountability in a democracy. The independence of the Bar, he said, is “not merely a professional privilege but a constitutional necessity,” because it ensures citizens receive fearless legal representation and enables the state to be held accountable through constitutional challenges.
Justice Gavai praised the BASL for consistently standing for justice, constitutionalism and citizens’ rights, saying the association had shown courage to take principled stands during difficult constitutional moments in Sri Lanka. The remarks come days after the BASL itself raised grave concern over President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s reference at his May Day rally to a forthcoming Supreme Court ruling, which the association said risked eroding public confidence in the judiciary.
The former Chief Justice traced the role of lawyer-leaders in shaping societies beyond the courtroom, citing Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel from India’s freedom movement. He referred to the Indian Supreme Court’s judgment in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala — where arguments by jurist Nani Palkhivala led to the basic structure doctrine limiting Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution — and to the court’s 2024 ruling on the demolition of properties of accused persons, which held that the executive cannot act as “prosecutor, judge and executioner” simultaneously.
Constitutional democracies, Justice Gavai concluded, require an “independent, vigilant and engaged Bar,” particularly as legal systems face challenges from digital governance, migration, environmental degradation and transnational crime.
Source: Ada Derana (ANI / Agencies).
