Lawyers Form New Collective 'in Defence of Fundamental Rights and Civil Liberties'
New Delhi: An organisation called the Lawyers Association for Constitution was formed in an informal inaugural meeting in New Delhi.
The association, which promises to operate strictly on a non-party affiliation basis, has opened its membership to any practicing lawyer, law student, or law school teacher who shares the objectives of the organisation, LiveLaw reports.
The report says that among the key speakers were Senior Advocates C.U. Singh, Nandita Rao, Amit Anand Tiwari, and Shadan Farasat, Senior Advocate and former Patna high court judge Justice Anjana Prakash, former Allahabad High Court judge Justice Amar Sharan, and advocates Madhu Saran and Devvrat, who is president of the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association.
There was also a robust open discussion involving numerous other lawyers.
"The Bar has long been home to associations organised around courts, causes, and even political affiliation. What it has lacked is a body of lawyers organised around nothing more, and nothing less, than the Constitution itself — its Preamble, its guarantee of rights, and the democratic institutions that give it life. The Lawyers’ Association for Constitution is founded to fill that gap," the group notes in its website.
The lawyers came together in the aftermath of the Bar Council of India chairman Manan Kumar Mishra's extraordinary directive trying to halt the enrolment of the 2026 batch of NALSAR Hyderabad graduates who were protesting peacefully against Chief Justice of India Surya Kant's attendance at their convocation.
Terming it an "intimidation tactic" and a misuse of regulatory authority under the Advocates Act, 1961, the association asserted that peaceful dissent is protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, LiveLaw reported. The LAFC has called upon the BCI chairman to resign.
The group aims to provide litigation and legal-aid support in defence of fundamental rights and civil liberties, track and respond to developments that touch on constitutional governance, publish research and organise public education on constitutional law, and mentor young lawyers and law students who want a home for public-interest and constitutional practice.
The LAFC hopes to bring together lawyers from different regions, courts, organisations, political backgrounds and areas of practice. It says, "Members need not agree on every issue. They associate around a shared minimum commitment to the Constitution."
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