Report No. 117

Chapter V

Syllabus

5. Any training scheme, to be effective, useful and result-oriented, must have comprehensive syllabus. It must be frankly confessed that drawing up a comprehensive syllabus by a body composed of non-academics is a challenging task. The Law Commission, with a view to acquainting itself about the topics to "be 'prescribed for training, has held long discussions with the Chief Justice of India, Chief Justices of High Courts and some legal academics. The Commission had a close look at the five years' law course prescribed by the Bar Council of India. Judgeship can be appropriately styled as a multi-disciplinary office.

To be a judge worthy of his office, the incumbent must know sociology, economics, humanities, constitutional culture, unbiased approach, psychology to understand the litigant and witnesses, decision-making process, modern management techniques and, above all, social orientation of rural society, problems of poverty and the problems of the neglected sections of the society, such as members of the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and the underdog. To draw up a comprehensive syllabus incorporating all these topics is a difficult task.

To some extent the Commission is relieved from undertaking this exercise in view of the blueprint submitted by the Chief Justice of India in which comprehensive syllabus has been drawn up. The same is being annexed here as Appendix II to this report for ready reference. The authorities in charge of the academy proposed to be set up for imparting training in collaboration with the National Judicial Service Commission will draw up a comprehensive syllabus for training in the academy. Without being exhaustive, those topics which must be given priority may be briefly set out hereunder:-