THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF INDIA 7TH LALA AMAR CHAND SOOD MEMORIAL

LECTURE

Himachal Pradesh High Court New Auditorium,

Shimla – 171001

6th October 2018

The Bar Association of India 7th Lala Amar Chand Sood Memorial Lecture was organised by
the H.P. High Court New Auditorium, Shimla on the topic of Balancing Human Rights on the
Doctrine of Proportionality. It began at 10 AM with the inauguration by lighting of the lamp
and giving a commemoration to Late Shri Lala Amar Chand Sood Ji, a Senior Advocate who
had contributed his entire life to the legal profession. The Chief Guest for the event was
Hon’ble Justice Dr. A.K. Sikri, Judge of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. Accompanying
him were Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sanjay Karol, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High
Court and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sanjay Karol, Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

The event initiated with the vote of thank by Sr. Advocate Kapil Dev Sood, the organiser of
the event followed by the speeches by Shri Rama Kant Chairman of the Bar Council of
Himachal Pradesh, followed by speech delivered by Mr. Ashok Sharma, Advocate General
Himachal Pradesh. General Secretary Bar Association Mr Yakesh Anand also enlightened the
occasion. Subsequently, Justice Dr. A.K. Sikri took over the podium and initiated the lecture
quoting Raymond Chandler “Down these mean streets a man must go who is not
himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be
such a man. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man
and yet an unusual man.” Comparing a simile to the amazing character of Shri Lala Amar
Chand Sood. The lecture continued with explanation given on the aspects on proportionality
of law and democratic values propounded by Dicey which are firstly, absence of arbitrary
powers on the part of the authorities, secondly equality before law and thirdly, constitution is
a part of ordinary law of the land. He also exaggerated upon the fact that rule of law is not
merely a public order but also a social justice and proper balancing of the same is the need of
the society and individual. He also ushered rhe principle of proportionality as the universal
model of Rule of Law. He quoted that the doctrine coming first in Germany has also been
inculcated in our country with reasonable restrictions in three arenas by and large. Firstly, it is
been adopted in penology, secondly in administrative actions and thirdly in the constitutional
aspect itself. Concluding his lecture, Hon’ble Dr. Sikri provided for four tests to enable this
doctrine of proportionality stating that the legitimate global test should be applied which
means that there must be a designated proper purpose, a suitability stage test must be made
applicable which provides for a rational connection to the purpose and limitation, a test at
necessity stage meaning thereby to check whether an alternate method can be applied or not
and lastly a test of balancing to be conducted to garner a purposeful relation amongst society
and the fundamental rights.

The lecture was a huge success gathering a lot of appreciation from audiences comprising of
legal luminaries, advocates, faculty members and the students of various universities and
colleges. The same was followed by High Tea organised at the H.P. High Court.