NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India N V Ramana Saturday termed access to justice "a tool for social emancipation" and said only a small percentage of the population can approach courts while the majority suffers in silence, lacking awareness and necessary means.
Technology has emerged as a great enabler, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) said and urged the judiciary "to use modern technological tools to enhance the pace of justice delivery".
Justice Ramana was addressing the first All India District Legal Services Authorities Meet here in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the judiciary to speed up the release of undertrials languishing in jails awaiting legal aid.
"Justice: Social, Economic and Political, that is the vision of justice which our Preamble promises to every Indian. The reality is, today, only a small percentage of our population can approach the justice delivery system, when in need. A majority of the people suffer in silence, lacking awareness and necessary means," he said.
"Modern India was built around the goal of removing the disparities in society. Project democracy is about providing a space for the participation of all. Participation will not be possible without social emancipation. Access to justice is a tool for social emancipation," the CJI said.
Echoing the prime minister's views on providing legal aid and ensuring the release of undertrial prisoners, he said one of the most important aspects which calls for active consideration and intervention of the legal services authorities in the country is the condition of undertrials.
"The prime minister and the attorney general have also rightly flagged this issue in the recently held conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices. I am happy to note that NALSA (National Legal Services Authority) is actively collaborating with all stakeholders in securing the much-deserved relief for undertrials."
Justice Ramana said India, the second most populous country in the world with an average age of 29 years, has a large workforce.
"However, skilled workers are estimated to be only three per cent of our total workforce. We need to harness the full potential of the youthful demographic profile of our country. With the western world increasingly falling short of skilled human resources, it is India's turn to fill the gap, globally," he said.
The CJI termed the district judiciary the backbone of the justice delivery system of the world's largest democracy.
They are the first point of contact for much of the population and its strengthening is "the need of the hour", he said.
"Without any doubt, the district judiciary is the driving force behind the legal aid movement in India," he said, adding public opinion about the judiciary is primarily based on their experiences with the district judiciary.
This casts a great responsibility on the district judiciary which must undertake multi-faceted tasks and roles as they are best placed to understand people's problems and social issues," the BJI said.
Justice Ramana hailed the services provided by NALSA following its inception 27 years ago and said, "The fact that it is aimed at offering free legal aid to 70 per cent of our population, makes NALSA the largest legal aid provider in the world."
Many of the objectives of NALSA have been translated to social realities and this was made possible because of the sincere effort of dedicated judges and advocates, he said.
The CJI also stressed the need for strengthening alternate dispute redressal (ADR) mechanisms like Lok Adalat, mediation and arbitration centres.
These ADR mechanisms have the potential to transform the legal landscape of India by providing millions of people a platform to settle their grievances, he said.
"Matters ranging from matrimonial and intergovernmental disputes, government contracts and land acquisition can be attempted to be resolved through mandatory ADR.
This will not only reduce pendency and backlog but also will provide a much-needed speedy justice to affected parties," Justice Ramana said.
The two-day meet, organised by NALSA, is being attended by over 1200 delegates across the nation including the principal district and sessions judge of all the judicial districts and ex officio chairpersons of DLSAs and would discuss the implementation of the Unified business process for providing effective legal aid to marginalised and poor.
Ease of justice was equally important as ease of living as India celebrates the 75th year of its independence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday as he urged the judiciary to expedite the release of undertrials languishing in various jails.
Addressing the first All India District Legal Services Authorities Meet here, Modi said citizens have immense faith in the judiciary and access to the judicial system is equally important as the delivery of justice for any society "This is the time of 'Azadi ke Amrit Kaal'.
This is the time for the resolutions that will take the country to new heights in the next 25 years.
Like Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living, Ease of Justice is equally important in this Amrit Yatra of the country," he said at the conference, which was also attended by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana.
The Supreme Court has spoken on several occasions on the need to be sensitive towards the humanitarian issue of undertrial prisoners, he said and added that the District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) can take up the responsibility of providing legal aid to such prisoners.
The District Judges, as Chairpersons of undertrial review committees, can expedite the release of undertrial prisoners, the Prime Minister said.
Lauding the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) for undertaking a campaign for the release of undertrial prisoners,he urged the Bar Council to encourage more lawyers to get involved in this campaign.
According to the 'Prison Statistics India' report published by the National Crime Records Bureau in 2020, there were 4,88,511 prison inmates of which 76 per cent or 3,71,848 were undertrials.
Highlighting the place of legal aid in the Directive Principles of the State Policy, Modi said this importance is reflected in the faith of the citizens in the Judiciary of the country.
"As important as access to the judicial system is for any society, justice delivery is equally important. The judicial infrastructure also has an important contribution to this. In the last eight years, work has been done at a fast pace to strengthen the judicial infrastructure of the country."
Underlining India's leadership in information technology and fintech, the Prime Minister stressed that there cannot be a better time to introduce more power of technology to judicial proceedings.
"Under the e-Courts Mission, virtual courts are being started in the country. Courts have started functioning round the clock for crimes like traffic violations. Video conferencing infrastructure is also being expanded in the courts for the convenience of the people," he said.
The Prime Minister said that more than one crore cases have been heard through video conferencing in the country.
"This proves that our judicial system is committed to the ancient Indian values of justice and, at the same time, is ready to match the realities of the 21st century," Modi said.
He further said "a common citizen should be aware of his rights and duties in the constitution. They should be aware of their constitution, and constitutional structures, rules and remedies. Technology can play a big role in this too."
The two-day meeting of DLSAs, organised by the NALSA, began here on Saturday.
Besides Modi and Ramana, the inaugural session was attended by Supreme Court judges U U Lalit, D Y Chandrachud, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, and Minister of State for Law SPS Baghel.
Other Supreme Court Judges, Chief Justices of High Courts, Executive Chairpersons of the State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs) and Chairpersons of the DLSAs were also present.
The meeting will deliberate on the creation of an integrated procedure to bring homogeneity and synchronisation across DLSAs.
There are a total of 676 DLSAs in the country, each headed by the District Judge.
NALSA implements various legal aid and awareness programmes through DLSAs and State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs).
The DLSAs also contribute towards reducing the burden on courts by regulating the Lok Adalats conducted by NALSA.