Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Sunday encouraged the lawyers to shift from adjournment culture to a culture of professionalism and also adopt flexi timings during the long vacations of courts.
Attending the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Supreme Court at the Additional Building Complex of the Apex Court, the CJI said through the Constitution, people gave to themselves this court. It’s not just a legal document, but also represents feeling of mutual respect towards fellow citizens, feeling of responsibility in institutions which it creates.
He said the judiciary must look back and look forward in equal measure. Mahatma Gandhi said recall the face of the poorest and weakest man and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Since the founding of this court, its decisions have been guided by this principle.
The Front Desk experience of approaching courts has changed completely. As opposed to lawyers lugging trolley cars of papers, now the Supreme Court and other courts of the country have facility of filing cases at click of a button.
E-filings are today available in 25 states. More than 20 lakh cases were e-filed. With the support of the bar and the bench, the courts of the country were able to swiftly shift to virtual hearing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Even after pandemic, hybrid hearings continue to be a feature of all Indian courts. This has democratised access to the Supreme Court.
Within the enabling perimeter of this quadrangle of transformation, the Supreme Court is said to uplift experience of everyone either a part of judicial system, or who comes in contact with it.
What is the future? The Supreme Court is soon going to migrate its digital data to a cloud-based infrastructure. It is also on the verge of opening a war room equipped with technology enabling Supreme Court to monitor real-time judicial data of entire country.
Just as we make our courts tech-savvy, we must also realise that India is going through a period of social and demographic transformation. Women are seen in important positions across the nation. There is a greater focus on inclusion of marginalised societies.
Before 2024, only 12 women were designated as senior advocates in the history of the Supreme Court over last 74 years. Last week, Supreme Court designated 11 women in one selection.
Our legitimacy will endure from inclusion of diverse sections of population in our system. Therefore, we need to make more effort to bring different sections of society into legal profession. For example, representation of members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes is…
In the near future, we must address structural issues affecting judiciary such as pendency of cases, our archaic procedures, and the culture of adjournments.
Let us begin the conversation on long vacations and decide, of course in consultation with the bar, whether flexi-time for lawyers and judges is possible.
Let us begin the conversation on long vacations and decide, of course in consultation with the bar, whether flexi-time for lawyers and judges is possible.
We must reflect on the journey we have traversed and renew our pledge to uphold the Constitution within and beyond our courtrooms.
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