Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna says Constitution helped country’s transformation

Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna addresses during the Constitution Day celebration of the Supreme Court Bar Association, in New Delhi on November 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday (November 26, 2024) said India has emerged as a vibrant democracy and a geopolitical leader, and the Constitution of the country has helped this transformation.

“India has had a transformative journey from a nation, which under the aftermath and horrors of partition saw widespread illiteracy, poverty, lack of a robust democratic system of checks and balances, to one which has now become a self-assured country,” the CJI underlined.

“But at the back of it, it is the Constitution of India, which has helped this transformation. It is today a way of life that has to be lived up to,” he said.

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The CJI was speaking at the Constitution Day function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) at the apex court.

Since 2015, November 26 is observed as Constitution Day to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India by the Constituent Assembly in 1949. Earlier, the day was observed as Law Day.

Attorney General R Venkataramani, SCBA president and senior advocate Kapil Sibal also addressed the gathering.

In his address, Justice Khanna said the Constitution bestowed on the court a unique position for the judiciary.

“Mr Kapil Sibal read out the charter of the Constitution Day. It captures the entire ethos of what Constitution Day means to all of us being a part of the judiciary,” he said.

The CJI highlighted the importance and contribution of the Bar, noting, “We often refer to the judiciary as persons in robes, that is, the judges, but judiciary equally represents the Bar.” He underscored, “I cannot visualise the judiciary where the members of the Bar are not a part and parcel of it. You are as much part of the judiciary as the judges.” Justice Khanna revealed he was a member of the Bar from 1983 to 2005, when he got elevated as a judge, and his tenure as a member of the Bar was longer than his tenure as a judge.

“Judges come from the Bar and go back to the Bar. We belong to the Bar. The better the Bar, the better the judges,” he said.

The Supreme Court has had a very strong and good legacy and there were decisions right from environmental law, privacy laws, fundamental rights to the basic structure doctrine, added the CJI.

“Many of these decisions, I do not think would have been possible without the contribution and efforts of the member of the Bar,” he said.

Since his taking over as the CJI, Justice Khanna said he made various attempts to look into the issues and problems faced by the members of the Bar.

He referred to the measures, including setting up notice boards outside courtrooms where physical causelists are shown besides improving the Wi-Fi services in the top court.

“I have one request to make and I hope it will be taken in the right spirit. I have been repeatedly getting requests for re-circulation of letters for adjournment. I have looked into the data,” said Justice Khanna referring to the numbers, which reflected about 9,000 to 10,000 applications or letters for adjournments being circulated every three months.

He therefore said, “So, it is not going to be possible for us to go back to the earlier system. Whatever system we have now adopted, we can, if you come up with some suggestions for improvements, look into it, but going back to the earlier system may be counter-productive.”

The CJI said the apex court receives about 1,400 applications in the new system in the last 11 months.

“You can see the difference. From 100 applications a day to about 150 applications a month. That’s a huge change and let us, therefore, go with the right spirit,” he said.

The CJI urged everyone to introspect on the day, and look into and assess the strong points and weaknesses.

“As the attorney general has rightly pointed out, it is a day when we look at the scorecard. We don’t think the scorecard is blank. We have good scores but there are issues, which we have to tackle. And let us unifiedly tackle those issues with the members of the Bar and the judiciary both contributing to this…,” he said.