An NLU-J and Oxford University alumnus, Mr. Abhijay Negi had his ambitions high since he decided to work for a social cause. An equally gifted lawyer, Mr. Negi has taken his hat off to non-metro High Courts while working in one. In a telephonic interview with us, he shared about his academic, social work and legal experience.
Q. In your recent case which turned out to be a landmark judgment on the Panchayat electoral system passed by a Division Bench led by the Chief Justice of Uttarakhand HC, you expressed concern over lack of a legislative or an executive framework to deal with pre-election malpractices as one of your contentions- that ultimately culminated with 34 elaborate Vipul Jain guidelines and an unprecedented State High Court request to the Legislature to enact a law. What do you count as your achievement(s) in the said judgment and personally how do you think pre-election malpractices can be curbed?
A. I got this case during the very first year of my legal practice. I had argued for about sixteen hours in toto during all the hearings. The case is notable as it instigates the powers of the higher judiciary to regulate the role of State Election Commission in organising elections to Village Panchayats or Gram Sabha. All this began with a simple complaint that was made to to the Petitioner, Mr. Vipul Jain regarding the persistent corruption in village elections including manipulating voters monetarily and menacing them. The Election Commission seemed to overlook their powers in curbing such a scenario and thus on behalf of the Petitioner, I approached the Uttarakhand HC with two requests- to issue broad guidelines for the SEC informing them of their powers thereof and requesting the State Legislature to pass a law therein.
The case came with its own ebbs and flows wherein the State Government opposed the petition on the ground that Courts do not have the power to legislate, which they felt was what the petition demanded.
Another interesting aspect here was that the Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court- when he was the Deputy Advocate General and Senior Advocate at the Andhara Pradesh High Court had won a decision in his favour by a Constitution Bench of the AP HC which had held that all matters pertaining to Panchayats provide total autonomy to the State Government and judicial review does not lie in such matters (Ranga Reddy Sarpanches Association v. Government of Andhara Pradesh-in which stalwarts like Mr. Soli Sorabjee was Amicus Curae and Mr. L Nageshwar Rao had also appeared for the Union of India). So the real challenge here was to convince him that what he had successfully argued alongside some of the stalwarts of modern day Constitutional Law was not entirely correct. I also touched upon the Constitutional Assembly Debates to distinguish my case from Ranga Reddy and to underscore the constitutional sanctity attached with Panchayati institutions.
The question of powers under Article 142 also arose- and the absence of such a provision for the High Courts, and I did cite cases to convince the Bench about the powers of the High Court in this regard – ( Justice Hansaria’s concurrence in BC Chaturvedi) and particularly quoted the Triple Talaq and Vishakha cases where it was the Court which requested Legislature to pass a law and issued guidelines regarding sexual harrassment, respectively.
I’d like to mention that my days at Oxford proved to be truly beneficial in this respect, where I got the opportunity of studying comparative constitutional law under a single course of Bachelor of Civil Law- as what I learnt under dialogic review helped me drive my point home. Paragraphs 52-69 of the judgement expressly dealt with those of my contentions.
Q. You had received a scholarship from the Louis Dreyfus Weidenfeld Hoffmann Trust for your LL.M. at Oxford and were also offered scholarship from the Commonwealth Trust and the Chevening Trust. How did you apply for it and what is their criteria for nominating students?
A. Before I talk about this specifically, I would want law students to understand that apart from preparing for the much-sought-after Rhodes and Commonwealth scholarships, they should also analyze their profile as to what works best for them.
Coming to the question, most of the scholarship programmes look out for meritorious students with a stellar academic record. Second look out is for certain leadership capabilities. I feel it is important to note that they are NOT obsessed about compulsive moots, because they might not know about many national moots. All they want is substance in your application- be it from publications,sports, leadership and volunteering initiatives or mooting.
This scholarship programme that I was fortunate enough to be a part of was fairly generous in terms of the stipend and the leadership programme included grooming sessions and training sessions in country-side England, which they supported financially. I was also sent to a summer training programme at China’s premier Tsinghua University in Beijing. I also travelled to East African countries like Rwanda and got to learn about how innovative Biogas systems were helping their rural communities. Overall, it totally exceeded my expectations.
Q. Having been elected as the “Best Law Student” by the Menon Institute of Legal Advocacy and Training (MILAT) and Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) among all law students of the country and the winner of the Damodarshree National Award for Academic Excellence, how did you manage to stay focused in your law school days despite the constant pressure a law student has to encounter?
A. I feel being engaged in co-curricular, extra curricular activities helped me stay alert and active even in academics. All went hand in hand for me. There were semesters when all went well and then there were semesters when all were not at their best. I feel legal studies give one the innate knack of being on your toes.
Q. How was your internship experience under Mr. M.C. Mehta?
A. Mr. M.C. Mehta runs a summer-internship programme in his ashram at Thano in Dehradun. Since I belong to that city and am sensitive about environmental issues, I applied for the internship without a second thought.
I feel that Mr. M.C. Mehta defines a lawyer in truest sense. He speaks his heart and strikes a chord, especially with the younger generation with respect to environmental issues. What makes him different is that he has been working in and out of the courtroom. He is simple, upright, expressive and a man of principles. I have had intensive discussions with him on various issues and also interacted with various other personalities he brought to the Ashram. Though it was short, I really enjoyed the internship.
Q. Tell us about Making a Difference by Being the Difference.
A. MAD is a registered society which is about eight years old now. My friends and I felt we could do our bit to clean our city. Little by little, it beautifully culminated into a student-run movement. As to what we do, our work areas range from beautification of public walls, rejuvenation of rivers, afforestation, etc.
The idea about MAD dawned upon me during a random event of switching over TV channels and coming across a telecast about how victims of Bhopal Gas Tragedy are still not compensated. I wanted to my bit for them by collecting funds. Though it could not materialise, we got a vision to work and spread awareness. Over the years, we have organised food donation drives, cleanliness drives but one of the benchmarks were achieved with clean-up campaign of Tamsa river– the only fresh water stream still flowing in the Doon which is horribly polluted owing to religious offerings and illegal encroachment. Apart from accomplishing the Herculean task of cleaning the riverbed, we invited the attention of Government authorities to the issue.
A report by NIH, Roorkee confirmed Rispana to be a perennial system – a feat that was made possible by the efforts of MAD.MAD has also made commendable contributions during the Nepal earthquake.
We do not take any Government funding. The group is supported by pocket money from its members only.
Q. You had been felicitated for standing first in the Youth Parliament convened by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. Do you believe students should participate in Youth Parliaments while they are at school itself?
A.Definitely they should. The five or three years of law school gives one an opportunity to participate in any activity to pursue what they like and this time does not come back after graduating. There are absolutely no restrictions on experimenting here. Instead of employing time and energy in frivolous activities, one can do something constructive; not merely for the sake of some kind of social approval, but for oneself.
Q. What were the struggles of beginning litigation as a first generation lawyer?
A. I did not have anyone in my immediate family with a legal background, so somewhere I lacked with knowledge which trickles down from generation to generation- which is extremely helpful when one starts litigation. After I returned from Oxford to practice in the Uttarakhand High Court, the initial phase was tough and hard-hitting. I soon realized that academic profile and industrial experience are two different things. People had the urge to “test” a person who had received the best education from a First-World country. It took me some months to understand how things are. Luckily, my senior Mr. Sandeep Kothari, who is a very young lawyer himself, did not fit in the somewhat stereotypical idea of an indifferent senior. He was more like an elder brother to me and let me take up my own cases apart from teaching me a lot of things by conduct. Nothwithstanding the struggles, that was a truly enjoyable experience and the learning still goes on. What I have learnt is that in the legal field, your academic qualifications are always second to the kind of experience you have.
Q. How is the practise scenario in some of the non-metro High Courts- such as in Uttarakhand, in terms of exposure, learning and earning.
A. The general belief among good law students or academicians is that the real aura of litigation lies in Presidency High Courts and they do prefer courts like the Delhi HC or Mumbai HC over others. However, there are certain myths about non-metro High Courts- about the pay-scale, about the number of cases. If we talk about the metro cities, one would most probably begin practice in juniorship;it is quite difficult to get first hand cases early on in your career. The salaries are not that good (though better than non-metro High Courts, which may not have a salaray component at all ) though your expenses also rise in big cities. Unlike non-metro courts where one can at least get chance to argue in front of Judges, there is cut-throat competition and the field is relatively open in the smaller High Courts- where you can start your own work soon.
I would strongly advise law students to consider the courts at their native places, because people there have an idea of who they are and a sense of trust is established thereafter. They too are constitutional courts and one can always progress to bigger courts from the smaller ones. The field, contrary to the held view, is not limited and opportunities to establish oneself are limitless. Sooner or later, with your own work flowing in, you may realise that the pay is not that bad after all.
Q. What are the kind of cases that you are dealing with, do clients trust young lawyers with critical briefs.
A. I am dealing with constitutional, matrimonial, service, transfer, promotion and appointment matters. Through PILs, I deal with environment degradation, sustainable development, encroachment of rivers, tribal rights, emergency medical services, access to higher education. All of these are critical briefs. And a demarcation between non-metro and metro High Courts in this case is that in the former, you have your own critical briefs, unlike the latter wherein you are less likely to be trusted with such matters.
Clients here do trust young lawyers with critical briefs and if you trust yourself, there is potential to excel.
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