Hyderabad, Nov 21 (IANS): "Dharma" is for the stability of society, maintenance of social order and the general well-being and progress of human kind, and India has put Dharma at the centre of governance," Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday.

Addressing the members of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Advocates Associations here, he said: "Upholding Dharma means sustaining our civilization and if we follow the rule of law, our human society will survive."

Naidu said that the conduct of lawyers, judges and the courts had a deep impact on the civilian life in this country and added that dynamism of the lawyers was the foundation for judicial activism.

He quoted Chanakya as saying that "law and morality sustain the world".

He said the implementation of laws and dispensation of justice needed to be much more effective, speedy and must also look fair and just.

The Vice President said that justice dispensation system, as an institution, was now at crossroads and faced with many challenges. He rued that the general decline in ethical and moral values had affected the justice dispensation system as well.

Acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh and Teleangana Justice Ramesh Ranganathan, Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana Mohammad Mahmood Ali and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.