Chief Justice (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud on Sunday raised the issue of ‘culture of adjournment’ and long holidays, saying the judiciary’s ability to remain relevant as an institution requires it to recognize challenges and initiate difficult dialogues.
He also stressed on increasing representation of marginalized sections and providing equal opportunities to first generation lawyers.
The Chief Justice was addressing a function organized by the Supreme Court to mark the inauguration of the diamond jubilee year of the establishment of the apex court.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief guest in this program. Justice Chandrachud also highlighted the demographic changes taking place in India and said that while women were traditionally under-represented in the legal profession, they now constitute 36.3 per cent of the district judiciary workforce.
Chief Justice Chandrachud called for inclusion of various sections of the society in the legal profession. He underlined that the representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes “is very low both at the Bar and the Bench.”
Terming it an ‘important occasion’ in the history of the country, the Chief Justice (CJI) said that now women can be seen in important positions in India. “The focus has been on comprehensive inclusion of marginalized sections in the society,” he said.
The confidence of the young population to succeed in their professional lives is equally inspiring.” The Supreme Court came into existence on January 28, 1950. It functioned from the Parliament House before being shifted to the present building.
CJI Chandrachud said, “Traditionally the legal profession was considered to be of elite men. Time has changed. “Women, traditionally under-represented in the profession, now constitute 36.3 per cent of the working force of the district judiciary.”
The Chief Justice also highlighted the structural issues affecting the judiciary, such as pendency of cases, archaic procedures and a culture of adjournment. He stressed that these issues should be resolved in the near future.
He said, “Our endeavor as judges and administrators should be to ensure the dignity of the district judiciary, which is the first point of contact for citizens. Our ability to remain relevant as an organization requires that we recognize the challenges and initiate difficult conversations.”
The Chief Justice said that there is an urgent need to move from adjournment culture to a professional culture.
“Second, we must ensure that lengthy oral arguments do not cause inordinate delays in judicial outcomes,” he said. Third, equal opportunities must be provided to first-generation lawyers entering the legal profession, whether men or women or other marginalized people, who have the will and ability to succeed.”
Justice Chandrachud said, “Fourth, start talks on long holidays and discuss whether options like flexible timings for lawyers and judges are possible.” He highlighted that the candidates selected in the recruitment examination of Junior Civil Judges held in many states like Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand More than 50 percent of the candidates were women. The Chief Justice also highlighted the recent grant of ‘Senior Advocate’ status to a record number of women by the Supreme Court.
“We, as judges and administration, cannot remain ignorant of the growing aspirations,” he said. “Before the start of 2024, only 12 women had been designated as ‘senior advocates’ in the last 74-year history of the Supreme Court,” he said.
Last week, the Supreme Court designated 11 women from different parts of the country as ‘senior advocates’.” In his address, CJI Chandrachud said, “Inclusion of different sections of the population in our system will maintain our legitimacy.
Therefore, we need to make more efforts to bring different sections of the society into the legal profession.” “For example, the representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes both at the Bar and the Bench is quite low,” he said.
Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, serving and retired judges of the apex court and high courts and lawyers and law students also attended the event held at the Supreme Court complex.
Attorney General R Venkataramani, Bar Council of India Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra and Supreme Court Bar Association President Adish C Aggarwal also addressed the gathering. Chief Justices of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mauritius, Nepal and Sri Lanka also participated in the event.