Everything is still not well in the Supreme Court – Opinion of senior Supreme Court lawyer on one year tenure of CJI DY Chandrachud

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has been one of the most talked about CJIs. The media reports not only his decisions but also the oral comments he makes in court. When CJI gives a lecture in any program, he also gets a lot of coverage. He has often expressed his opinions regarding the role of judges and the judiciary.

CJI Chandrachud has been successful in generating interest in the judiciary among the public. Now the question arises that what has the CJI achieved in his one year tenure? This question should be examined thoroughly, because ultimately the job of the judiciary is to deliver justice.

Plaintiffs die before getting justice

Data available on the National Judicial Data Grid maintained by the Supreme Court shows that 4,43,03,449 civil and criminal cases are pending in various courts. Of them, at least 69,88,278 cases are pending for 5-10 years; 32,42,441 cases are pending for 10-20 years, 4,97,627 cases are pending for 20-30 years and 93,770 cases are pending for more than 30 years.

15,69,281 applications in civil cases are pending (as on 17.11.2023). In October alone, 16,14,349 cases were filed. Although it is true that 12,24,972 cases were also disposed of in that month. However, if we take together the rate of disposal of cases, pending cases and newly filed cases, it shows that it will take a long time to get justice. There are 79,361 cases pending in the Supreme Court alone. The data shows that 4,466 cases were disposed of and 4,915 new cases were filed in a month.

Millions of citizens are waiting to get justice from our courts, but many never get it in their lifetime. It is a sad aspect of our judiciary that a litigant dies before getting justice.

1,54,447 undertrial prisoners in central jails

Prison Statistics India, 2021, published by the National Crime Records Bureau of the Ministry of Home Affairs, shows that there are 81,551 convicted prisoners in our central jails. There are 1,54,447 undertrial prisoners lodged in central jails across the country. The number of undertrial prisoners in other jails is up to 4,27,165. They are kept in jail for a period ranging from three months to five years and more. He may be released someday, or even die, pending trial. Most of them may also be acquitted. The conviction rate in criminal cases is low in India. Apparently, very little attention is paid to the fundamental rights of citizens in the courts.

Everything is still not well in the Supreme Court

Everything is not well in the Supreme Court also. Much still remains to be done in the formation of benches and allocation of cases. The CJI and every judge appointed under the collegium system must remember that the independence of the judiciary is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution and is essential for the preservation of the democratic system. These things were decided by the Second Judge case.

The power given to the Collegium from the Second Judge Case was to fulfill certain constitutional purposes. The Collegium was to appoint the best judges in the Higher Judiciary with that power. The idea was to eliminate political influence at the level of appointment in Judgment.

CJI Chandrachud still has a chance

Today India’s democracy is in danger. The functioning of constitutional institutions and bodies is not satisfactory. Attacks on opposition parties on one pretext or the other are increasing across the country. One cannot ignore corruption and it must be dealt with strictly but only as per the law. Above all, it must be dealt with equally because corruption is not alone in the opposition.

The Constitution of India itself is in danger because the freedoms enshrined in it are rarely available to all citizens. The biggest thing is that serious violations of human rights are taking place in the country. People have been arrested for agitating for their rights and expressing their opinions or political beliefs. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the “riots”.

It is not too late for the CJI to pay more attention to these issues. He has the capacity, vision, intelligence and experience to bring about change and most of all, time.