Cuttack: Chief Justice of India Justice Dipak Misra on Sunday called upon lawyers not to seek avoidable adjournments to save the legal system from embarrassment.

Chief Justice Mishra said this while delivering the First Madhusudan Das Memorial Lecture to celebrate 75 years of his alma mater Madhusudan Law College here on the "role of lawyers in the justice dispensation system".

Chief Justice Mishra said: "A lawyer must avoid seeking unnecessary adjournments which embarrasses the legal system. A lawyer's duty is to enhance the judicial dispensation system and not to embarrass."

"The lawyers, as a class, are supposed to render service to the society and not just earn money," he said while calling upon lawyers to extend their service at a nominal fee to victims of violation of human rights or to protect the rights of persons who cannot afford to engage lawyers.

He also said that the justice dispensation system instead of being just court-oriented "should be society oriented, community oriented and person oriented, and that is to serve the society".

Utkal University vice-chancellor Soumendra Mohan Patnaik delivered the welcome address on the occasion, while Madhusudan Law College principal S.K. Nanda gave the vote of thanks.