Report No. 58

Increase in pofessional gains since Second World War

10.15. It is sometimes not appreciated by persons who are not connected with the working of the High Courts and the Supreme Court that a significant phenomenon has taken place in relation to the functioning of these Courts. After the Second World War, the cost of living has been steadily increasing, until we have reached a stage when it can be said without any exaggeration that Judges, who draw a salary of Rs. 3,500 are finding it difficult to live a life with ordinary amenities-much less a life of comfort and ease. On the other hand, after the Second World War, the professional gains at the Bar have increased by leaps and bounds.

The inevitable result of this anomalous situation has been that senior members of the Bar have lost faith in the validity of the principle which governed the ethics of the Bar in the past, and which compelled them as a matter of duty to the profession to accept an invitation of the Chief Justice to join the Bench. In the past, if the Chief Justice of the High Court sent for a member of the Bar and offered him an invitation to be his colleague, it was thought to be a matter of duty to the nation to say "yes" and never to decline the offer. Decline in the faith of this professional principle has now led to this unfortunate and distressing result that the Chief Justice of every High Court has the sad experience of getting a "No" to his request from several members of the Bar. This is a circumstance the relevance of which cannot be ignored in considering the present problem.