Supreme Court judge Justice BR Gavai, while stressing on the importance of technology in judiciary, has said that the system of getting justice was not meant for the judges or lawyers, but the judges and lawyers worked for the ultimate consumer of the system, which was the citizen of India.
Speaking during an event organised by the Kerala High Court to launch several new initiatives on Friday, Justice Gavai said that after the pandemic, India witnessed great strides in technology, which provided solace to millions of citizens. He said the Indian courts were now using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the judgments were now being translated into various vernacular languages.
Highlighting the need to address the lack of economic and social mobility which trapped the citizens within the brackets in which they were born, Justice Gavai mentioned the speech made by Dr. BR Ambedkar in the final constitutional debate in November 1949.
Dr. Ambedkar said that the political equality granted by the universal adult franchise should not blind the people to inequality in other spheres. India has achieved equality and justice on a political plane by providing for one person, one vote. However, there was inequality at the economic and social justice level.
Justice Gavai said the society was today compartmentalised into tight categories where persons were not able to travel from one compartment to another. On an economic plane, the entire wealth of the country was concentrated in a few hands whereas the vast majority found it difficult to eat even two meals a day.
Dr. Ambedkar had warned that if all-out efforts were not made to eradicate these inequalities, then the edifice of democracy, built so labourously, would collapse.
The initiatives launched on Friday include India’s first exclusive digital court to deal with cases under the Negotiable Instruments Act and Kerala’s sixth special court to handle cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also addressed the gathering. He spoke about the vision of the makers of the Constitution in including Article 17, which abolished untouchability in the nation. He affirmed Kerala’s commitment to uplift all sections of society.
Supreme Court judges Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice Rajesh Bindal spoke about the adaptability afforded by technology, however, they added words of caution not to leave behind those who may be inept at navigating an increasingly digitised justice delivery system.
Acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court and Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Raja Vijayaraghavan V spoke about the effort put into materialising the Kerala judiciary’s vision of a more digitised system. They expressed their hope that these initiatives would go a long way in not only improving accessibility and transparency, but also in tackling the pendency problem of the judiciary.