Two former Chief Justices of India, Justice U.U. Lalit and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, underlined the urgent need to curb white-collar crime to safeguard India’s economic integrity and realise the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. Speaking at the TPF–Dayitva: National Legal Conference on Combating White-Collar Crime, organised by the Terapanth Professional Forum (TPF), the jurists called for systemic reforms, legal coherence, and ethical renewal to restore public trust in institutions.
The conference also witnessed the unveiling of a 10-point Charter on Combating White-Collar Crime, outlining policy, institutional and ethical measures to strengthen transparency, coordination among enforcement agencies, and professional accountability. Raj Kumar Nahataa, National Convenor of TPF, announced that the Charter would soon be formally submitted to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India for consideration.
Nahataa urged professionals to rise above self-interest and embrace their dayitva, their
duty to uphold ethical conduct in public and private life. “Let us resolve that we will uphold not only the letter of the law, but also the spirit of honesty and integrity. If we all unite in this collective mission, the day is not far when our nation will once again be known as the golden bird – Sone Ki Chidiya,” he said.
Justice Lalit observed that white-collar crimes are eating into the economic fabric of the nation, weakening institutions and corroding trust. He emphasised the need for a coherent statutory and institutional mechanism that ensures accountability and transparency, warning that “fragmented enforcement and overlapping jurisdictions delay justice and weaken deterrence.”
Echoing similar concerns, Justice Khanna noted that white-collar crime challenges not only the boundaries of law but the conscience of governance itself. He urged law enforcement agencies to balance firmness with empathy, stressing that “the strength of our justice system lies not in the severity of punishment, but in the certainty of justice.”
Adding an enforcement perspective, Karnal Singh, Former Director, Enforcement Directorate, said that India must adopt a lead agency concept to harmonise the work of multiple investigative bodies. “Lack of coordination among agencies probing the same case leads to duplication, delays, and incomplete prosecution,” he said, highlighting the need for an integrated and evidence-sharing framework.
The TPF–Dayitva Conference, attended by over a thousand professionals from law, finance, medicine, and academia, emerged as a clarion call for India’s professional community to act as collective whistleblowers and ethical guardians. As deliberations concluded, a powerful consensus resonated across sessions — that India’s march toward Viksit Bharat 2047 depends as much on moral vigilance and professional integrity as it does on economic progress and legal reform.