‘Old cases are staring at our faces,’ says CJI Surya Kant

Noting that ‘old cases stared at our faces’, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Saturday said a predictable timeline and a unified national judicial policy-based early adjudication of pending cases would be his priority.

"My first priority will be a predictable timeline and a unified national judicial policy-based early decision of the pending cases. I am not saying elimination of all the arrears. That will never happen. That should not happen because litigation is an ongoing process. People have trust and faith in the judicial system," the CJI said.

Speaking at HT Leadership Summit in New Delhi, Justice Kant said, "Cases will be filed but the old cases which are staring on our face need to be tackled and for that, one needs to explore mediation as one of the powerful game-changers."

According to the National Judicial Data Grid, India has more than 5.48 crore cases pending in various courts across the country. The bulk of judicial arrears was in subordinate courts which have a total of 4,83,98,910 cases (3,72,98,251 criminal and 1,11,00,659 civil) awaiting disposal.  Many of these cases are pending for several years.

The 25 high courts have 63,62,224 cases (44,62,681 civil and 18,99,543criminal cases) pending while the Supreme court has 90,662 cases, including 269 Constitution Bench matters, pending.

Responding to a question on independence of judiciary, Justice Kant referred to the constitutional philosophy of separation of powers, and said the Constitution has beautifully defined the respective roles of the Judiciary, the Legislature, and the Executive, while ensuring that there was no overlapping."I just want to send a very clear and strong message that the Supreme Court is also meant for the common man, and any ordinary litigant will also have sufficient space and time in the Supreme Court. And for that, I am doing some prioritisation of the matters to be listed," he said.

Justice Kant, However, also said he cannot do this alone and the judges of the top court had extended their full cooperation in this regard.

"So, new challenges will continue to come. First, we need to update our judiciary. We must update our judicial officers with newer challenges and how to deal with those issues,” the CJI said.