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Article 22 of the Constitution of India grants every arrested citizen a fundamental right to be defended by a legal counsel of her choice. It does not give anyone a say in determining who should represent her. In 2023, the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), recognising the relentless crisis of undertrial prisoners, created a body of legal aid defence counsels (LADC) who would be paid by the state.

However, now the advocates association of Punjab and Haryana have decided who should represent the accused. They have demanded that only they should represent prisoners and that the LADC system be revoked. In other words, they have declared that litigants should either pay them or remain undefended, and NALSA has agreed to go along with this.

In an August 4 order, NALSA said it would not to renew the contracts of legal aid counsels in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh from September onwards, thereby enforcing the advocates’ unconstitutional demand and ending prisoners’ right to equal access to justice.

NALSA also decided that LADC contracts in the remaining states and Union Territories will not be renewed upon completion of their existing tenures. As a result, the issue is not limited to Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh but extends across India.

Treating prisoners’ rights as expendable, the NALSA decision rewrites the constitutional right to legal aid under Article 39A. While the rationale of the lawyers is plain and simple – the state-supported LADC threatens their economic interests – this is almost taking the prisoners hostage.

This legal extortion is being dressed up in the language of victimhood, even though it is evident that any attempt to bring under control the under-trial crisis affects the professional interests of advocates and, therefore, they would allow it to continue.

Also read: India’s Per Capita Expenditure on Free Legal Aid Is Just 75 Paise Per Annum: Report

The lawyers of Punjab and Haryana say that the........

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