'I Have A List Of Lawyers In My Mind' : CJI Chandrachud On SCBA Demand To Consider Supreme Court Lawyers For Elevation As High Court Judges

At his felicitation ceremony organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association, while addressing the concern of Senior Advocate, Mr. Vikas Gupta, President of SCBA regarding elevation of the Supreme Court Advocates as Judges of High Court, CJI, Justice Chandrachud made an interesting remark. He said: "I can let out a secret, when a young lawyer appears before us, the instinct that we have as judges who have come from High Court is to think, 'Is this person not good enough to be appointed as the judge of the High Court? And I have a list of lawyers in my mind. I believe all my colleagues also have lists and I have been mentioning those names constantly to the Chief Justices who have preceded me." However, he emphasised on the need to have a balance, and not deprive High Court lawyers from being elevated as Judges. The CJI recollected that as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court he had elevated brilliant lawyers from the Supreme Court to the High Court Bench. Apart from the afore-discussed issue, he also dealt with other grievances of the SCBA pointed out by its President, Mr. Singh. The CJI noted that listing is a genuine problem at the Supreme Court. He acknowledged the contribution of the former CJI, Justice U.U. Lalit, in streamlining the process to great extent and making it transparent. He assured the Bar that he would build on the system in place to make listing more transparent, objective. He highlighted that he wished to employ technology to the process of listing in order to eliminate the element of human discretion. "We have to make listing transparent, objective and employ technology in order to eliminate the element of human interface in the listing process. Because all discretion tends to become a discretion which is not being, perhaps, employed properly." He added - "It is important to institutionalise these processes. More than ad-hoc solutions, the problems the bar faces needs to be institutionalised." The chief problem in the judiciary, as pointed out by the CJI, is that of vacancies. He also pointed out that he has pushed for use of technology in legal processes as be is an ardent believer of that technology has the potential to act as a source of inclusion. "I have laid a great amount of stress on technology.That is not because I have interest in technology, but because I believe that technology can be a source of inclusion. But we have to also ensure that technology does not become a source of exclusion." He apprised all present that he is in touch with the ground reality and is aware that many lawyers do not have access to computers or the internet. He said that one of his missions is to ensure that technology reaches out to all the members of the Bar and it ought not to be the other way round. "We are to launch e-filling for the Supreme Court...We are aware that many lawyers do not have access to computers or the internet. So one of the missions is to ensure that those who do not have access to technology, technology should reach out to the members of the Bar."

'I Have A List Of Lawyers In My Mind' : CJI Chandrachud On SCBA Demand To Consider Supreme Court Lawyers For Elevation As High Court Judges

Sohini Chowdhury

Tags