Mumbai: The greatest challenge before the judiciary is to eliminate the barriers coming in the way of accessing justice and make sure that the judiciary is inclusive and accessible to the last person in the line, remarked Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Tuesday.
While speaking at the Independence Day function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), he shared the plan details about the apex court's makeover. The CJI said that the SC will expand its infrastructure to add 27 additional courtrooms, four registrar courtrooms, and more facilities for lawyers and litigants.
The museum and the annex building will be demolished to create more courtrooms and bar rooms for the SCBA, Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association and bar room for women lawyers. The proposal for the same has been submitted to the Centre and the file is pending for clearance with the department of justice, he added.
Aim to create a more accessible and cost-friendly judicial system
Underlining that the history of the judiciary is intertwined with the struggles of common people, the CJI further said that their aim is to create a judicial system which is more accessible and cost-effective for the people, which is only possible with the help of technology.
The Centre has approved a ₹7,000 crore budget for the phase 3 of e-courts project. The initiative will usher in a revolution in legal domain by inter-linking all courts across the country, setting up infrastructure of paperless courts, digitisation of court records and setting of advanced e-sewa kendras in all court complexes.
Supreme Court's efforts to translate judegments in vernacular languages
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his speech at the Red Fort, lauded the SC's efforts to translate judgements in Indian languages. Referring to this, CJI said that till date 9,423 of its judgments have been translated into regional languages. Talking about the number of cases filed and those disposed of by the SC, he said 4,527 cases were filed in March and 4,086 were disposed of. In April, 4,716 cases were filed while 4,700 were cleared.
“Legitimacy of our institutions can be secured only when the courts establish themselves as robust, independent institutions,” concluded the CJI.
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