What CJI Must Prioritise

Source: The post is based on an article “What CJI Must prioritise?” published in the Times of India on 26th July 2022. 

Syllabus: GS 2 – Issues associated with the functioning of Judiciary 

Relevance: Justice 

News: Recently, The Supreme Court delivered a verdict, after a long period of 26 years, in a simple case. In this case, the politician Raj Babbar was accused of assaulting a police officer in 1996.  

The Chief Justice of India in his recent statement underlined that the judiciary is answerable to the Constitution and the Constitution alone.  

The motto of the Supreme Court of India is Yato Dharma Sthato Jaya. Therefore, the SC held that dharma can be upheld only if privilege and responsibility go hand-in-hand. It means higher the privilege, greater the responsibility. It can also be referred to “no free lunch in society” in terms of economics. 

What are the shortcomings of present functioning of Judiciary? 

In every society, judges and scholars are held in the highest esteem. Therefore, in return, the society also expects scholars and judges to pursue their respective dharma in the highest spirit. It is not right to blame politicians, the government, or us citizens for expecting far, far more from the judiciary. The CJI should acknowledge that the judicial system owes timely justice to the citizens of this country. This is because there are a lot of lacunae in the functioning of the Judiciary: 

(1) India is in the bottom 15th percentile of all nations in ease of enforcement of contracts. 

(2) Around 4. 5 crore cases are pending. Thereby, justice is getting delayed and is being denied to far more Indians than citizens in 160-odd countries.  

(3) The Indian judicial system enjoys total independence. Therefore, it should also fulfil greater accountability. 

Why should the judiciary move forward for the ease of enforcement of contract in India? 

The ease of enforcement of contracts is most fundamental to any society and economy. For example, attracting corporate investments, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, to enable greater competition in the economy etc. 

The judiciary has the obligation to secure to all its citizens JUSTICE, social, economic and political, as per the Constitution of India. 

What should be done? 

Every CJI should lay out a timebound plan to eliminate the Himalayan backlog of cases. The plan must include use of technology, the routine cases can be dealt with quickly using technology, and the innovative way to work with the government. 

The judicial system should focus exclusively on its primary function, until the backlog of cases is cleared. 

There should be ease of enforcement of contracts for India to grow 7-8% annually.  

Every CJI should evolve a time-bound plan for India’s judicial system to be ranked in the top quartile of nations.