Judiciary vanguard of institutional governance, says CJI on Independence Day

“If our history teaches anything, it is this: It is in the routinely small matters that issues of great constitutional and jurisprudential importance emerge,” the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr D.Y. Chandrachud said today.

The CJI was speaking on the occasion of India’s 77th Independence day.

Speaking at an event organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association, the CJI said the last 74 years suggest that the history of the Indian judiciary is the history of the daily lives and struggles of the Indian people.

He added that the judiciary as a whole, and the Supreme Court in particular, has been the vanguard of institutional governance by enhancing the access to justice and promoting constitutional values.

The Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal was also on the dais. The CJI said whenever he gets a request, even an innocuous one and sometimes wholly misconceived, for taking up a matter immediately on the same day, he hears it very carefully and assigns the Bench at earliest.

“I believe irrespective of the outcome of a case, the real strength of our system is granting access to justice to our citizens. 

“That sense of confidence in an individual that an arbitrary arrest, a threatened demolition and pension which is unlawfully attached, must find solace and a voice in judges of the Supreme Court,” the CJI said.

Speaking on the greatest challenge to the dispensation of justice, the CJI said according to him the greatest challenge is to eliminate the barriers to access to justice.

“We have to enhance access to justice procedurally by eliminating the constraints which prohibit citizens from approaching courts and substantially by building confidence in the ability of the courts to dispense justice,” the CJI said, adding that he has a roadmap to make judiciary even more inclusive and accessible to the last person in the line.

The CJI also spoke of making all efforts to ensure verification of the cases filed in the Supreme Court is done at the earliest and they are listed for hearing.

Speaking of the complaints and letters addressed to him, the CJI said he deals with them personally, including those complaints which are addressed to him through social media.

“But I request lawyers, if you have any grievance, do not run outside the court, you have the head of the family sitting here to address it,” the CJI said.

Speaking of infrastructure issues, the CJI said that the Supreme Court of India would expand its infrastructure to add 27 additional courtrooms, four registrar courtrooms, and more facilities for lawyers and litigants.