LAWYERS AND THEIR CLIENTS IN A NORTH INDIAN DISTRICT Thesis presented for the degree of M.Phil. at the University of London by Mahipal S. Tomar School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. August 1985 ProQuest Number: 10731542 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731542 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT This study is concerned with lawyers and their clients in the north Indian district of Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Its aim is to examine the informal aspects of the formal legal system, the hypothesis being that an informal dimension is especially important where the formal institutional structure is weak. The thesis is divided into seven chapters. The first is concerned with the aims of the thesis, with the general social features of the district, with methodology and with a description of the fieldwork methods. All lawyers who were regular practitioners in the district courts (kachahri) of Muzaffarnagar city, have been included in the study sample. The second chapter deals with the definition of a profession, in particular that of 'legal profession' and with the various approaches to the study of a profession. Then the thesis looks at the history of the Muzaffarnagar district Bar, the social background of its lawyers and with the question why people join this profession. Chapter Four is concerned with the bases and patterns of the linkages between lawyers and clients, and in particular with the roles of the para-professional men such as touts and brokers as middlemen and the qualities such as primordial ties; with how lawyers become leading lawyers; with the question of the degree to which the lawyers in Muzaffarnagar conform to the criteria of the 'professional man1; and with the issue of the public image of the legal profession. In Chapter Five I analyse factional politics in the district Bar, in order to examine the bases of grouping among lawyers and with the question of 'unprofessionality' in their associational behaviour. Chapter Six is concerned with the relationship of the traditional panchayat system to the modern legal system in the context of ideas held about the provision of justice. In the final chapter the conclusion is drawn that primordial ties are of great importance to the operation of the legal system, that social background influences professional behaviour, that lawyers are profit-oriented rather than service-oriented, and that the difference betwen 'occupation' and 'profession' is a matter of degree. CONTENTS Abstract 2 Acknowledgements ...................................... 8 Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 10 1. Aims of the thesis ................................ 10 2. The setting of Muzaffarnagar district .......... 19 3. Research methodology ............................. 45 Chapter II. THE DEFINITION OF AND APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF PROFESSIONS 52 1. Towards a definition of profession ............ 52 2. Different approaches to the study of professions .. 62 Chapter III. THE KACHAHRI OF MUZAFFARNAGAR CITY 80 1. The physical setting of the kachahri ............ 80 2. The history of the Bar .......................... 87 3. The social background of the lawyers ............ 89 4. Why they became lawyers .......................... 110 Chapter IV. THE BASES AND PATTERNS OF LAWYERS 'PROFESSIONAL RECRUITMENT SETS' 120 1. The munshi as a para-professional...... ............ 123 2. Touts as a linkage node .......................... 132 3. Caste, kinship and other primordial ties ....... 149 4. Political and other ties ...................... 153 5. How do individuals become leading lawyers? .... 156 6. Lawyers as professional men ................... 159 7. The standing of the legal profession in India .... 173 Chapter V . THE P0LITIC5 OF THE DISTRICT BAR 178 1. The District Bar Association: its organisation and rules ....................................... 178 2. The Bar election: a case s t u d y ..................... 186 Chapter VI. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TRADITIONAL PANCHAYAT AND THE MODERN LEGAL SYSTEM 205 1. Different levels of panchayat ................... 206 2. The*panchayats and the modern courts ............. 209 3. The nyaaya-panchayats: a middle way ..............210 4. Choosing a particular system ................... 218 5. Recent trends & conclusion ................... 222 Chapter VII. CONCLUSION 225 Appendices A. Questionnaire for lawyers ........................ 231 B. Biographies of a representative sample of eight lawyers .......................................... 233 Bibliography ......................................... 246 Glossary 256 - 6 - LIST OF PLATES AND MAPS PLATES1 1. A view over the kachahri .......................... 82 2. An old lawyer going to court ...................... 82 3. Litigants waiting for their cases to be called .... 86 4. The clients smoking hukkaa in the lawyer's office .. 86 5. A munshi coaching a female client .. ...... ....... 124 6. The touts trying to catch litigants during the court hours .. 133 7. The touts trying to catch litigants during the weekend ......................................... 135 8. A mukadmah-baz with litigants .................... 142 9. A Sikh lawyer with his clients .................. 150 10. A lawyer with his apprentices and clients..... 150 11. A clique of young lawyers ........................ 183 12. The members of the Jat faction................. 183 13. A general meeting of the DBA ..................... 195 14. An election meeting of one coalition ............ 195 MAPS 1. The administrative map of Uttar Pradesh state .. .. 17 2. The map of Muzaffarnagar district ................ 18 3. Sketch map of the Muzaffarnagar kachahri .......... 81 1. [Note: Taking pictures of people in the kachahri was not objected to, and many photographs were taken with the subjects' open agreement.] -7- LI5T OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES 1. The nature and the total number of lawsuits of some district courts during 1977-78 & 1980-81 ............. 44 2. Distribution of lawyers by c a s t e ..................... 93 3. Lawyers by religious affiliation .................. 94 4. Correlation between caste and the age groups of the lawyers .............................................. 96 5. Distribution of lawyers by education ............... 98 6. Distribution of lawyers by their year of law degree (LL.B) ........................................ 99 7. Distribution of lawyers by their place of primary education ............................................ 99 8. Correlation between rural-urban background and family structure ...................................... 101 9. Occupational background of the lawyers' fathers . .. , 101 10. Relationship between lawyers' rural or urban background and practice specialisation .............. 103 11. Correlation between lawyers' castes and their practice specialisation .............................. 103 12. The correlation between age-groups and job satisfaction ...................................... 116 13. List of the outgoing managing committee of the DBA by caste ...................................... 189 14. The composition of the coalitions in the two Bar elections ...................................... 190 15. The total number of candidates by coalition and caste . 190 FIGURES , 1. The district administrative structure ................ 35 2. The judicial organisation in Muzaffarnagar district ... 43 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to begin by recording my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Adrian C. Mayer for his supervision and inspiration. Despite his heavy administrative engagements as pro-director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SGAS), University of London and as president of the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI), I always found him ready and willing to invest time and energy in giving detailed comments on the style and contents of this thesis with his inimitable gentle and scholarly style. He gave me confidence when I needed it, particularly when my wife suddenly died during fieldwork; his letters of sympathy were a great source of energy for me to continue the study. I have special thanks for my teacher and friend, Dr K 5 Panwar (Meerut University, India) who was my first teacher of sociology and who has encouraged me in my study and career over the past years. During'fieldwork he gave me many valuable suggestions in the process of collecting field-data. I wish to acknowledge the help given by my friend Dr Yogas Deshpande (LSE, University of London)in computing work. I am also grateful to friends at SOAS, in particular Dr Helen Kanitkar, Mr R C Dogra (Library), Mr Baz Mackee, Ms Fiona Stewart and Ms Gwen Hiskins, with whom I shared intellectual discussions and my moments of pleasure and sorrow during my study. My special thanks go to Ms Fiona Stewart for typing this thesis without charge As to those in Muzaffarnagar itself, I would like to thank the lawyers, litigants, judicial and administrative officials and other related persons for allowing me to study them. Without their co-operation this study