A meeting of NGOs, CDPOs, Juvenile Welfare Committee, RGNUL, Punjab Faculty and District Administration on free legal aid to the poor, marginalized and weaker sections of the society has held at the campus of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab.
Focus of the meeting was towards the legal awareness and empowerment for the women, children and the marginalised section of the society. Prof. (Dr.) G.I.S. Sandhu, the worthy Registrar of the RGNUL, Punjab said that there is ignorance about law, their rights and duties in the marginalized and weaker sections which needs to be cured at domestic level. He further said that the procedure that is followed in courts is very complicated. The Registrar gave the brief history of the development of the Legal Aid which started as a Directive Principle of the State Policy i.e. Article 39-A of the Constitution of India and it was the case of Maneka Gandhi which changed the way of legal aid as a Right and not as a Directive principle.
Assistant District Attorney, Mr. Tajinder Singh Bal and the District Programme Officer, Harjit Arneja stressed the need for better protection to the women and destitute. They also expressed the need for better care of the married women in the changing society and family structure. Madam Abhinandan Bassi, Assistant Professor of Law, RGNUL, Punjab was also present in the meeting and she laid stress on the need to protect women and Children.
The members of the university pledged their full support to provide legal advice and services to the citizens who are not in a position to engage a counsel or approach the courts. This clinic has been designed to bring legal services to the doorsteps of the weaker sections of the society including women, children and member or S.C./S.T.
Giving his views, Gurneet Singh, Assistant Professor of Law, RGNUL, Punjab has said that it is with the constant and persistent efforts of the worthy Vice-Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) Paramjit Singh Jaswal and worthy Registrar Prof. (Dr.) G.I.S. Sandhu of RGNUL, Punjab that a Legal Aid Clinic has been established under the aegis of Punjab Legal Services Authority at RGNUL, Punjab Campus. The Clinic is manned by the RGNUL Faculty, Advocates and Para-Legal Volunteers, he further added.
