Indian Judiciary Is Essentially Feudal Even Today; Modern & Futuristic Approach Needed : Justice Chandrachud

Expressing concerns about the still prevalent feudal mindset in the Indian Judiciary, Supreme Court judge Justice DY Chandrachud on Sunday said that it needs to move to a more "modern and futuristic" approach and added that technology can be a powerful tool to make that change.

Justice Chandrachud was speaking at the National Conference on Mediation and Information Technology organised by the High Court of Gujarat. He said that the feudal practices of Indian judiciary are evident in the level of subordination among the judges of the District Judiciary. 

"We all know Indian Judiciary even today is essentially feudal. These feudal practices are evident to us by the element of subordination which we practice among the judges of the District Judiciary," he said.

He cited the examples of District Judges being made to wait for High Court judges at the district borders during their visit and not being allowed to sit before them.

"Judges of the district judiciary being made to wait when a judge of the higher court is coming into the district at the border of the district. Judges of the district judiciary are not allowed to sit when they talk to High Court judges or even higher...well these are some of the symbols, the emblems of the subordination of district judiciary".

"We need to move from a feudal to a more modern and futuristic Indian judiciary and that change can happen only if our mindsets change. And I do believe that technology provides us with a very powerful means of changing feudal practices within Indian judiciary".

Illustrating how technology can aid in this reformation, Justice Chandrachud continued :

"Inspection of districts, which is a source of very great stress to district judiciary, can be radically changed if we allow for electronic registers for inspection by the High Courts. Likewise, when we assess the performance of judicial officers, in the selection and promotion of judges, all the way across I believe, not just from the district judiciary to High Courts but from High Courts to Supreme Court, we can do a lot to assuage the grievance that our processes are not objective. And we can assuage that grievance provided  we use technology in an objective manner for those who are under consideration for higher judicial office. So I do believe technology is full of untapped potential for changing the face of Indian judiciary and making it more modern".

While concluding, Justice Chandrachud added a caveat that we should be mindful that technology is only as perfect as humans and both are prone to mistakes and flaws