Why did CJI Chandrachud say, citizens should not be afraid to approach the courts, gave this assurance to the President

Chief Justice (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud on Sunday said the Supreme Court has played its role as a ‘people’s court’ and citizens should not be afraid of approaching the courts, or see it as a last resort. Justice Chandrachud said, “Just as the Constitution allows us to resolve political differences through established democratic institutions and procedures, the court system helps resolve many disagreements through established principles and procedures.”

“Thus, every case in every court of the country is an extension of constitutional rule,” the Chief Justice said at the inauguration of the ‘Constitution Day’ celebrations in the top court. President Draupadi Murmu gave the inaugural address at the programme. The ceremony was attended by Supreme Court judges Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and many other dignitaries.

In his address, the Chief Justice said, ‘In the last seven decades, the Supreme Court of India has functioned as a people’s court. Thousands of citizens have knocked at its doors with the belief that they will get justice through this institution.’ He said that citizens are looking for protection of their personal liberty, accountability against illegal arrests, protection of rights of bonded labourers, protection of rights of tribals by tribals. They approach the court with demands for protection of land, prevention of social evils like manual scavenging and hope for intervention to get clean air.

Justice Chandrachud said, ‘These cases are not just quotes or statistics for the court. These cases match the expectations of the people from the apex court as well as the court’s own commitment to provide justice to the citizens.’ He said that the apex court is perhaps the only court in the world where any citizen can approach the Supreme Court by writing a letter to the CJI. Can give impetus to the constitutional system.

He said that apart from ensuring justice to the citizens through its judgments, the apex court is making constant efforts to ensure that its administrative processes are citizen centric, so that people feel connected with the functioning of the courts.

He said, ‘People should not be afraid of approaching the courts or see it as a last resort. I hope that through our efforts, citizens of every class, caste and creed can trust our judicial system and see it as a fair and effective forum for the exercise of rights.

Justice Chandrachud said that the courts are now doing ‘live streaming’ of their proceedings and this decision has been taken with the aim that the citizens know what is happening inside the court rooms. “Frequent media reporting about court proceedings indicates public participation in the functioning of courtrooms,” he said, adding that the top court has translated its judgments into regional languages with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology. Have also decided to do so.

The Chief Justice said, ‘The apex court has given 36,068 judgments in English from the date of its first sitting till November 25, 2023, but the proceedings in our district courts are not conducted in English.’ The CJI said that all these judgments are being delivered through e-mail. SCRs are available for free on the platform. This platform was started in January this year. He said, ‘Today, we are launching e-SCR in Hindi, as 21,388 judgments have been translated into Hindi, checked and uploaded on the e-SCR portal.’

Apart from this, till Saturday evening, 9,276 judgments have been translated into other Indian languages including Punjabi, Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Bengali and Urdu, he said. Discussing technology and its use by the judiciary, he also mentioned the introduction of ‘e-service centres’ in the courts to ensure that no citizen is left behind in the judicial process.

The Chief Justice said that last year on Constitution Day, the President had expressed concern over the overcrowding of prisoners in jails and the incarceration of marginalized people in the society. He said, ‘…I want to assure you (President) that we are continuously working to ensure that legal procedures become easy and simple, so that citizens do not remain in jail unnecessarily.’

Justice Chandrachud said version 2.0 of the ‘Fast and Secure Transmission of Electronic Records’ (FASTR) application will be launched on Sunday, which ensures that the judicial order of release of a person is immediately transmitted electronically to jail authorities, district courts and Should be transferred to the High Courts, so that the person concerned can be released on time.

The CJI said that when the country already celebrates Independence Day and Republic Day, then why a separate Constitution Day? He further said, ‘The answer lies in the success of our democracy compared to countries that gained independence from colonialism along with India.’ He said that India not only retained its Constitution, but the people also accepted it. Adopted as a symbol of their aspirations. The CJI said, “Celebration of Constitution Day is a symbol of the social life of an independent nation.”