Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud on Saturday said that the Supreme Court of India, despite being the highest constitutional court of the country, has to be an institution that reaches out to citizens and is deeply associated with their lives.
Speaking at the conclusion of a Special Lok Adalat week that saw more than 1,000 cases getting decided over five days in an out-of-court settlement, the CJI said that the Constitution framers envisaged a Supreme Court in a society that was poor and where access to justice was absent due to hurdles prevailing in a colonial set-up.
Justice Chandrachud said, “The idea behind creating this institution which would reach out to people was to ensure that this would not be one of those kind of courts like the American Supreme Court, which deals with 180 constitutional cases (in a year) but a court that will truly be a court reaching out to the lives of common citizens.”
The Special Lok Adalat was based on this theme “Nyay sab ke dwar (Justice at every doorstep)” and the CJI said, “The purpose of the Lok Adalat has been to take justice to the homes of the people and to remind people that we are a constant presence in their lives.”
The event was attended by Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal who complimented the Supreme Court for organising it to coincide with 75 years of India’s independence. The Lok Adalats began on July 29 with about 6,000 cases. Seven benches of the Supreme Court were initially assigned the cases taken up each day at 2pm. But by Thursday, 13 benches had to be constituted to manage the large volume of cases. To arrive at a settlement, some judges used to hear matters till 6.30pm, well beyond the scheduled time when courts rise at 4pm.
The cases settled included not just cheque bounce cases, but tax disputes, motor accident compensation claims, compassionate appointment, matrimonial cases and pension matters. The CJI said, “What is lost to so many people is the small job that we do in the Supreme Court.”
The CJI remarked often people ask why the Supreme Court has to deal with so many small cases. He responded by saying, “When the Constitution was framed by stalwarts like Baba Saheb BR Ambedkar, they introduced Article 136 (Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction) with a mission. This was a court set up in an essentially poor society where there was absence of access to justice. We operated in colonial structures of patriarchy, oppression, caste discrimination…Though we are at the apex of the Indian judicial system, we are closely and deeply associated with the lives of our citizens.”
The CJI said that with the success of the Lok Adalat, he plans to institutionalise it for the future. “The purpose was to give ownership to advocates over the institution because this is not an institution of the judges, for the judges and by the judges,” he said
