KOCHI: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Sunday called for introspection on whether there is room to improve the responsiveness of the judicial process in view of the growing tendency of litigants to move the Supreme Court for urgent listing or early hearing of matters pending before high courts.
“This is a new dimension of litigation which is now flooding the SC,” he said after inaugurating the celebrations held to mark 70 years of the Kerala HC in Kochi.
“The apex court has consistently respected the high courts’ institutional autonomy, including their authority to regulate their own roster. However, the frequency of such requests invites us to consider whether there is room to improve the responsiveness of our processes,” he said.
“We must ask ourselves: Can urgent matters be identified more effectively? Can listing procedures be made more transparent and predictable? Can technology help prioritise cases where delay may cause irreversible prejudice? And can we ensure a litigant’s access to timely justice does not depend upon their ability to travel to the national capital? These are not questions of institutional criticism, but of collective responsibility,” he said.
Kerala HC has set many benchmarks, says CJI
Justice Kant said constitutional justice in India does not begin and end in New Delhi as its strength lies in a robust network of 25 HCs in the country, “each entrusted with the duty of protecting rights and upholding the rule of law.”
The CJI said Kerala HC had played a crucial role in upholding constitutional values and safeguarding citizens’ rights, and set many benchmarks. “The HC has distinguished itself not merely by keeping pace with history, but often by remaining ahead of it,” he said.
He said one example of this was the HC’s 1999 order prohibiting smoking in public places, the first constitutional court to do so across the world.
The CJI also said the Kerala HC had played a big part in encouraging women’s participation in the judiciary as well as in translating constitutional principles into everyday life through progressive judgments in areas such as environmental protection and the safeguarding of fundamental rights.
