CJI Chandrachud welcomes Rs 7,000-crore allocation for e-Courts project

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 4

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Saturday welcomed the allocation of Rs 7,000 crore in the 2023-24 Budget for Phase-3 of the e-Courts Project, saying it will enhance judicial institutions and efficiency.

Addressing the 73rd anniversary of the establishment of the Supreme Court, the CJI said, “Such endeavours will ensure that the Court truly reaches out to every citizen of our country.” Singapore Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon delivered a lecture on “The Role of the Judiciary in a Changing World” on the occasion.

During the COVID-19 pandemic period, the top court adopted video-conferencing of court proceedings to reach out to the people, he said, adding the top court was allowing hybrid mode now to attend proceedings from any corner.

Quoting the first CJI HJ Kania, Justice Chandrachud said the Supreme Court would play an important role in building up the nation.

The CJI said for a court, every case was important and there were no big or small cases as he highlighted that the Supreme Court heard more than three lakh cases during COVID-19 pandemic time.

“For the Court, there are no big or small cases -every matter is important. Because it is in the seemingly small and routine matters involving the grievances of citizens that issues of constitutional and jurisprudential importance emerge. In attending to such grievances, the Court performs a plain constitutional duty, obligation, and function,” CJI Chandrachud said.

Chandrachud explained how the court adopted innovative techniques to reach out to people, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Between March 23, 2020, and October 31, 2022, the top court alone heard 3.37 lakh cases through video conferencing,” he said.

Recalling how the Supreme Court came into being on 28 January 1950, two days after India adopted its Constitution and became an independent Sovereign Republic, the CJI said it served the world’s most populous democracy and was in true aspects a ‘people’s court’ because it’s a collective heritage of the people of India.

Chandrachud said that the court has emerged as a strong proponent of gender equality whether in its interpretation of the laws of inheritance or securing the entry of women in the armed forces. In the past few years, the SC has furthered the transformative vision of the Constitution by recognizing and protecting fundamental rights such as the right to privacy, decisional autonomy, and sexual and reproductive choices.

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