Amicus curiae means a friend of the law Court, a disinterested adviser, not a party to the case. In civil and criminal cases, advocates are appointed amicus curiae to conduct cases of poorest of the poor. Section 13 of the Family Courts Act, 1984, speaks about amicus curiae. The section reads—
Notwithstanding anything contained in any law, no party to a suit or proceeding before a Family Court shall be entitled, as of right, to be represented by a legal practitioner.
Provided that if the Family Court considers it necessary in the interest of justice, it may seek the assistance of a legal expert as amicus curiae.
The Family Courts Act has been enacted to take away the family disputes from the Court atmosphere and settle it in family surroundings. Therefore Family Courts are started far away from the Court premises. So, the Act excluded advocates, in case of emergency one can be appointed amicus curiae. In fact S. 13 has never been applied letter and spirit and breached every time.
Family Court deals with marriage laws of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Sikhs and their personal laws. It deals with property rights, legitimacy of children, maintenance and the like. The pre-condition is that parties need be husband and wife and children. There involves major civil laws of the country and maintenance provisions of criminal law. The experience of judges and the advocates is that family disputes can only be settled with the active participation of the Courts, advocates and parties. Advocate shapes the party’s grievance within the law and the Court passes orders.To overcome S.13, amicus curiae, of the Act, along with suit or petition every party files a petition for permission to engage an advocate. The Court straightway grants. This tactics applies to defeat S. 13 of the Act. This being the position, S. 13 of the Act must go in the interest of justice.
