Writing a New Script for Justice: A Blueprint for Kerala's New Chief Minister

 

I publish my articles on Blogger, where I can track the number of readers who open the links. Having published 75 articles so far, I’ve noticed my audience remains quite limited; most of the time, the views never cross into the three-digit range, though they occasionally surpass 100. Only one or two articles have ever reached four digits, crossing the 1,000-view mark.

Despite this, I continue to write. Using this Google tool to draft and publish each of my blog posts has given me a newfound confidence to express myself much better.

This time, I am writing to congratulate our new Chief Minister, Mr. V. D. Satheesan—an elevation from the Bar. Even though I am not a supporter of the Congress political dispensation, his journey sparked my interest enough to follow him closely. It even prompted me to write the following in a recently published article regarding the group tour of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association to Malaysia:

'Our journey began just as the Congress "High Command" was searching for a new leader, and we returned to the news of Mr. V.D. Satheesan’s nomination. To borrow from the social media buzz of the time: if Satheesan was the "natural choice" and Ramesh Chennithala the "mura cherukkan" (the customary claimant), then KC Venugopal represented the choice of the "family"—perhaps an arranged marriage of sorts. While I am not a member of that political dispensation, I find myself wishing Mr. Satheesan success for a very specific reason: he is a leader who believes in the potential of those standing before him.

It was also during this period that the President of the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association published congratulatory messages for a few of our members who were elected as MLAs, including Mr. V.D. Satheesan. Since then, I have followed some of his podcasts—very lengthy ones—where he explains his journey as both a lawyer and a politician.

Listening to him, one thing becomes absolutely certain: the professional life, struggles, and trajectory of a lawyer remain remarkably identical, whether the name is 'Satheesan' or 'Johnson,' provided he is a first-generation lawyer.

In the recent past, I had actually disconnected my live TV connections simply because they had become quite irrelevant to my life. However, for the specific purpose of following Mr. Satheesan’s journey, I got them reconnected. I closely followed the news channel discussions regarding his selection, the formation of the cabinet, and the distribution of portfolios. In spite of the group affiliations being alleged by critics, the newly assembled team is reasonably good.

Unfortunately, we have certain news channels in Kerala operating like Goebbelsian propaganda machines. The moment a new minister is introduced, they are not presented as human beings or judged on their merits and qualifications; instead, they are instantly branded by their caste identity and group affiliation. Reading between the lines of these broadcasts, it is painfully clear: the media is sharpening its knives, ready to tear down our colleague even before he has the chance to take his first step.

While I can easily choose to pull the plug and disconnect my TV connection once again, I know that many Malayalis will not do the same. They will keep watching, and these relentless propaganda machines are highly likely to succeed in destroying this new initiative and our colleague’s potential before he can even begin.

But some of the observations made by political analysts like Adv A Jayasankar and former bureaucrats like Jiji Thomson genuinely appealed to me. More importantly, the fact that the Chief Minister is retaining the key portfolios of Finance, Ports, and Law encouraged me to think that he is already acting on the deliberate design he explained in his podcast—which, if I am not mistaken, has been viewed by over 19 lakh Malayalis.

Because he holds the reins of the state's legal and financial machinery, offering a routine, blank congratulatory message feels inadequate. Instead, there is an urgent need to present a creative, actionable blueprint that a forward-thinking administration can actually implement.

As a fellow professional from the Bar, the question I wish to place before our new Chief Minister is this:

Can we connect the dots? Can we link the institutional strength of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association, the academic engines of our various law colleges and universities fueled by NALSA grants, and the immense power of the government machinery through our elected representatives?

Currently, NALSA grants are offered to the legal aid centers of universities and law colleges, but these resources often sit underutilized because they lack consistent professional support. By joining these dots, we can write a brand-new script for access to justice in Kerala.

To touch the lives of ordinary people, we must address a glaring, systemic gap: while the Central and State governments launch countless welfare and development schemes, their benefits rarely reach the grassroots. In a society governed by the Rule of Law, unlocking these benefits requires heavy documentation, the creation of formal organizations, rigid regulatory compliance, and the drafting of complex project reports. Furthermore, many schemes only offer partial subsidies, leaving a crucial funding gap that requires structured project reports to secure bank loans. The ordinary citizen cannot navigate this bureaucratic maze alone, and our elected representatives—despite their best intentions—frequently find it difficult to pursue these matters to the finish line due to a severe lack of professional support and necessary equipment.

This is where we channel the daily public grievances received by elected representatives straight into these institutional clinics. Law students will do the heavy lifting, earning real-world experience in Administrative and Corporate Law by building these compliance structures and handling the paperwork, while busy practicing lawyers from our bar associations provide remote, tech-driven mentorship.

This concept aligns perfectly with the principles of 'Community Lawyering' put forward by the late Prof. Dr. N.R. Madhava Menon—a vision we are actively working to implement through our Complete Lawyer Project. I firmly believe that Prof. Menon would find deep satisfaction knowing that his home state is finally looking his way, carrying forward his groundbreaking ideas, even if it is long after his demise.

This is the project blueprint I wish to offer our new Chief Minister. By converging NALSA funds with local development grants, we create a self-sustaining ecosystem that empowers the underprivileged to claim state welfare, while simultaneously creating a robust, modern market for the legal profession itself.