Courts have to reach out to people: CJI Chandrachud

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 26

Calling for a citizen-centric approach to justice delivery, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Saturday said courts have to reach out to people instead of people reaching out to courts.

Addressing a Constitution Day function, the CJI stressed the need to simplify the litigation process by augmenting use of technology and institutional reforms to make justice accessible to all which was the “paramount challenge”.

“We have been adopting technology to improve the working of courts. It is of supreme importance and necessity that courts are remodelled to reach out to people instead of people reaching out to courts in their quest for justice…To ensure that courts reach out to people, it is essential that the process of litigation is simplified and made citizen centric,” the CJI said.

“While technology has ably aided us in ensuring functionality of the judiciary during the pandemic, technology must be augmented with institutional reforms to resolve the chief issue of access to justice,” he said.

Judges across the country must reflect upon the constitutional vision of securing justice, equality and liberty, the CJI said, adding it’s important that representation of marginalised communities and women in the legal profession and judiciary was increased.

Highlighting that the judiciary’s engagement with technology gained prevalence during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, “We must not dismantle the infrastructure but built upon it”.

Justice Chandrachud said as the CJI, he has been attempting to adopt technology-based services in listing of cases and court hearings “so that institutional flaws such as delays in listing and hearing can be removed from our vocabulary”.

Describing the district judiciary as the first interface of people with the judicial system, he said, “The district judiciary must be lifted from the mindset of being a subordinate judiciary.”

The CJI said the hybrid mode of functioning of the Supreme Court has enabled lawyers and parties in person to appear from different parts of the country. “Though the Supreme Court is located on Tilak Marg, the Supreme Court is a Supreme Court for the entire nation,” he added.

“Our endeavour is to enhance access to justice. This must not be understood in the narrow terms of enriching the experience of those who are already in possession of access but by reaching out to those groups and communities that are denied basic rights,” he said.

“It is crucial that we tap the experience of the diverse sections of people who are part of the judiciary,” he said, adding, “That is why it is all the more important that the representation of marginalised communities and women in the legal profession and judiciary is enhanced.”

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