UK minister urges India to open up its legal sector

Gandhinagar, Sept 2: The UK minister urges India today, to open up its

sector to international law firms. "India should open its legal sector so that global law firms and best talent can come here," UK's Minister of Courts and Legal Aid Sailesh Vara said.

"We are not asking the Indian government to allow our lawyers to argue in Indian courts or advice Indian clients about Indian Law, but our lawyers should be allowed to guide on International Laws," Vara, who is the first Gujarati origin minister in the UK government, said.

"Britain has opened up its legal system and it has resulted in attracting the best talent to our country. India can also emerge as the hub of legal talent if it opens up its legal sector," Vara said at a function at the Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) today.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a call to attract foreign direct investment in India. India should also think about opening its legal sector," he said.

Vara: India should also think about opening its legal sector

The UK minister who is on a visit to Gujarat said that he is keenly observing developments related to appointment of a Judicial Commission in India. "I am keenly following the debate on appointment of a Judicial Commission in India.

As an outsider, I cannot comment about it but we in Britain have an independent judicial commission for appointment of judges at all levles," Vara said.

He called upon students to come and study in the UK as it has 30 of the best universities out of the world's best 100 universities. "We have no cap on the number of students from India who can come for studies to our country.

There are 35,000 students of Indian origin who are studying in UK now," Vara said. However, he accepted that the number of students from India has declined as compared to earlier years.

PTI