Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Tuesday said that judges and lawyers should conduct themselves in such a way that it assured the independence and integrity of the legal process for all.
Hoisting the Tricolour at the Supreme Court lawns on the 77th Independence Day, the CJI said that the functionality of a court was determined by how effectively it could answer to the constitutional call of duty.
Stating that the current process of verification of cases took a long time, the CJI said that he was taking keen interest in reducing the verification time.
He also planted saplings in the Supreme Court lawns on the occasion.
He revealed that he spoke to IIT Madras on how to use Artificial intelligence to reduce the time from cases filed to being heard and minimise human intervention.
Talking about caseload, he said in March, 4,527 cases were filed, 22,000 were listed and 4,800 were disposed off. Filing in April was 4716, while disposal was 4,700. In May, 4986 cases were filed and 3984 were disposed off. In July, 5044 cases were filed, out of which, 6362 were disposed off.
The CJI said that during March to June, 2023, almost 19,000 cases were disposed off. This could not have been possible without the efforts from each of his colleagues, noted the CJI, adding that none of the judges complained when he pass on a supplementary with five additional cases.
The CJI said that recently, the Supreme Court released the sensitisation model for the judiciary and tomorrow, it would release a handbook on combating gender stereotypes in judicial decision-making.
Stressing on the need to overhaul the judicial infrastructure at the earliest, the CJI revealed that plans were in the offing to expand the Supreme Court in two phases. The first phase involved constructing a new building to have 27 additional courtrooms, four registrar courtrooms and adequate facilities for the lawyers and litigants.
The second part of the complex involved demolishing the museum and the annexe building to create 15 court rooms, meeting rooms, women bar rooms and rooms for the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA), he added.
As per the CJI, a detailed plan has been prepared and the proposal has been submitted to the Department of Law and Justice, Government of India.
Mentioning the quote, ‘Sunshine is the best disinfectant,’ he said technology was the best resource available to weed out opaqueness.
He expressed happiness over Phase 3 of the e-courts project being granted a budget of Rs 7,000 crore.
Stressing on the importance of e-Seva Kendra, the CJI said that it was crucial because every lawyer did not have access to a laptop or computer and because it was his aim to make the access to court affordable.
Talking about pendency, he said in March, 4,527 cases were filed, 22,000 were listed and 4,800 were disposed off, filing in April was 4716, disposal was 4,700. In May, 4986 cases were filed, 3984 were disposed off. In July, 5044 cases were filed, 6362 were disposed off.
The CJI said that during March to June, 2023, almost 19,000 cases were disposed off. This could not have been possible without the efforts from each of his Supreme Court colleagues, noted the CJI, adding that none of the judges from the Apex Court complained when he pass on a supplementary with five additional cases.
In the present listing system, he said all matters verified by Saturday, Monday and Tuesday were listed on next Monday, while matters verified on Monday and Thursday were listed next Friday.
However, the CJI said that he was working with the Registry to reduce this time by ensuring that all matters verified on Friday, Saturday and Monday would be listed by the next Friday and all matters on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday were listed on next Monday.
The Independence Day function was organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) at the Apex Court lawns, to celebrate the 77th Independence Day.
Union Minister of State for Law and Justice (Independent Charge) Arjun Ram Meghwal mentioned Section 35 of the Magna Carta, saying that it talked about how in the future there would be a conflict between the rule of law and the rule of man.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that discussions have been held on the issues of e-library and the Advocates Protection Act. He further said that he found merit in the issues with the Supreme Court.
Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani said that whenever law and justice met in a happy union, the progeny was bound to be strong. This progeny would make the march of law stronger, reaching the last man standing, he added.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, along with Supreme Court judges- Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice K.V. Viswanathan, graced the occasion.
SCBA President Adish C. Aggarwala, its Vice President and Senior Advocate Sukumar Pattjoshi, along with members of the bar and the bench, attended the event