Pro Bono Club, launched as a sub-club under the law ministry’s Nyaya Bandhu scheme, focuses on developing legal volunteering skills of aspiring lawyers. The program was launched last year but was put on halt due to the pandemic. Finally it has officiated with more than 50 law colleges coming on board including IIT Kharagpur. The ministry has pointed out regarding special attention to the northeast region and has made sure the participation of every state.
Pro Bono Club is created as part of the Ministry’s umbrella ‘Designing Innovation Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice in India (DISHA)’ programme, to provide voluntary legal advice to Nyaya Bandhu individuals and help connect registered lawyers with registered beneficiaries is a free legal service for the underprivileged sections of the society.
Nyaya Bandhu comprises a dedicated panel of advocates in High Courts as well as District Courts Building up community mediation, strengthening alternative dispute redressal mechanisms in the hinterland, improving digital literacy among the masses, and giving representation to the marginalised — these are some of the objectives behind Ministry of Law and Justice’s ‘Pro Bono Club’ programme for law students.
The Pro Bono Club intends to fill the vacuum created by a lack of dedicated volunteers on the ground to educate the beneficiaries about their rights under several government welfare schemes and legislations.
The law college, becomes eligible to receive funds from the justice department to develop a standard operating procedure (SOP) on the kind of legal aid work it intends to execute once it joins the Pro Bono Club. The institution as part of the programme has to adopt a village in the district where the institution is located so that regular legal services can be extended to its residents. The faculty of the institutions are encouraged to come up with jurisprudence in Pro Bono cases. Colleges joining the Pro Bono Club can also tap into their alumni network to raise more funds for their pro bono services.
Another feature of the Pro Bono Club is mentoring sessions for student members of the club. By professional legal volunteers to improve their communicating abilities including body language, so that students volunteers could come as well wishers to the beneficiaries. The ministry has emphasized that free services should become a regular activity in legal education centres.
FEATURES AND BENEFITS
The law college, becomes eligible to receive funds from the justice department to develop a standard operating procedure (SOP) on the kind of legal aid work it intends to execute once it joins the Pro Bono Club. The institution as part of the programme has to adopt a village in the district where the institution is located so that regular legal services can be extended to its residents. The faculty of the institutions are encouraged to come up with jurisprudence in Pro Bono cases. Colleges joining the Pro Bono Club can also tap into their alumni network to raise more funds for their pro bono services.
Another feature of the Pro Bono Club is mentoring sessions for student members of the club by professional legal volunteers to improve their communicating abilities including body language, so that students volunteers could come as well wishers to the beneficiaries. The ministry has emphasized that free services should become a regular activity in legal education centres.
Arundhati Nair is a voice editor trainee at Law And Justice Research Foundation and also a member of the Law and Justice Research Foundation Kottayam Chapter.
