Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Yashwant Chandrachud, who is on an official visit to Singapore, met Chief Justice of Singapore Sundaresh Menon on Thursday.
During their meeting, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Supreme Court of India and the Supreme Court of Singapore in the field of Judicial Cooperation.
Earlier in February this year, the Chief Justice of Singapore had visited India to take part in the Supreme Court of India’s Foundation Day celebrations.
For the first time ever in the history of India, the Supreme Court celebrated its Foundation Day on February 4, 2023, commemorating its 74 years of existence. Justice Menon was invited as Chief Guest for the event, where he delivered the lecture on ‘Role of judiciary in a changing world’.
The event started with a welcome speech given by Supreme Court Judge, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul. Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud addressed the august gathering next, followed by Justice Menon delivering the historic lecture.
The Chief Justice of Singapore highlighted the challenges either being faced by judicial systems around the world or were likely to face in the future. He said global challenges would give rise to new legal issues, which would initially be political, but almost all of them would have legal dimensions.
Speaking about the Supreme Court of India, he said that it was among the busiest courts in the world and its Justices were among the hardest working judges because of the immense caseload they carried.
Delivering the Vote of Thanks, Supreme Court Judge Justice K.M. Joseph said the Chief Justice of Singapore was born to Indian parents, three years before Singapore became an independent nation. He wanted to become a pilot but since he wore spectacles from a young age, he could not pursue this dream and at the age of 12 years, he thought of becoming a lawyer, added Justice Joseph.
On February 3, the Chief Justice of Singapore attended the proceedings going on in Court I of the Indian Supreme Court, led by his Indian counterpart, CJI D.Y. Chandrachud.
While commencing the court proceedings, CJI Chandrachud accorded a warm welcome to CJ Menon and said that the Judiciary could not have had a more distinguished scholar and jurist delivering the first annual lecture for the Foundation day of the Indian Supreme Court.
Senior Advocate and former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Vikas Singh, who was present on the occasion, said that it was his great pleasure to welcome the Chief Justice of a foreign country, who had his roots in India.
Justice Sundaresh Menon has been serving as the fourth Chief Justice of Singapore since 2012. He is the first Singapore-born Chief Justice of that country. Just like CJI Chandrachud, Justice Menon did his Master of Laws from Harvard Law School.