Kochi | Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday stressed the need to ensure transparency in the legal profession and urged the Bar Council not to allow any degradation in the field.

Earlier, there was a culture of lawyers voluntarily intervening where justice was denied and such interventions had its thrust upon humanitarian considerations beyond monetary benefits, he pointed out.

Everybody should introspect whether other priorities are replacing that culture nowadays, the Chief Minister said while inaugurating the state-level distribution of stipends to junior lawyers at the High Court auditorium here.

"It is the duty of the Bar Council to make interventions in necessary levels and there have been many incidents in recent times that reminds us to pay more vigil in doing this," he said.

The Chief Minister was apparently referring to some recent incidents in which a senior High Court lawyer faced bribery charges in settling cases.

Stating that the appointment of judicial officers should be done in a manner that respects the authority and independence of judiciary, Vijayan also said people's faith in the legal system would increase only if laws are used as tools to deliver justice.

The Chief Minister admitted that the number of courts or judicial officials to deal with such a huge number of cases is inadequte but added that justice can be delivered to the deserved persons only if authorities act promptly recognising this limitation.

He said the stipend is being provided to junior lawyers as part of the government's policy of ensuring welfare of all deserving persons.

High Court Chief Justice S Manikumar, Industries Minister P Rajeeve and others were present during the function.