Dealing with pendency of cases, promoting mediation will be my priorities as CJI: Justice Surya Kant
New Delhi (PTI): CJI-designate Justice Surya Kant on Saturday said dealing with a huge backlog of over 5 crore cases across courts in the country and promoting "game changer" mediation as an alternative mode of dispute resolution will be his two top priorities as head of the judiciary.
On online trolling of judges and judgements, he said these things never perturbed him. Fair criticism is always acceptable, he said.
Justice Kant, who was appointed as the 53rd Chief Justice of India (CJI) on October 30 by President Droupadi Murmu, will take the oath of office on November 24 to succeed Justice B R Gavai.
In an informal chat with mediapersons at his official residence here, Justice Kant said, "My first and foremost challenge is arrears of cases. Today's scoreboard shows that the Supreme Court arrears crossed 90,000. I am not going into how it happened, who is responsible... maybe listing (of cases) has gone up."
He said he will also seek reports from high courts about the pendency of cases there and in trial courts across the country.
According to reports, more than 4.6 crore cases are pending across India's courts.
The CJI-designate underlined the importance of mediation as an effective alternative dispute resolution mechanism.
"Now the second issue is mediation. This is one of the easiest ways of dispute (re)solution and it can really be the game changer," he said.
Referring to a recent speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an apex court function in which he stressed the need for mediation, Justice Kant said now the entire country is talking about it.
Recently Indian private MNCs, banks and insurance companies officially approached the top court seeking mediation training for their employees. They wanted to have their own in-house mediators because they did not want to go for long litigation, he added.
On ways of reducing pendency of cases, Justice Kant gave an example of batch matters of Delhi related to land acquisition and said by one judgement of his, around 1,200 cases were disposed of.
He further said that the high courts will be asked about the pending cases to be adjudicated upon by larger constitution benches of the top court.
There are many cases stuck in high courts as judgements are awaited in other related matters of larger legal and constitutional issues in the top court and larger benches have to be set up for that, he added.
On online trolling of judges and court judgements, Justice Kant said that once one reaches the office of an SC judge or becomes the CJI, then these comments on social media should not bother them.
"Frankly speaking, I call social media 'unsocial media' and I do not feel pressured by online comments...," he said, adding that during his tenure as a high court and Supreme Court judge, he was never perturbed by these.
Fair criticism of judges and judgements is always acceptable, he said.
Asked about the rising pollution in Delhi-NCR, Justice Kant said he still goes for a morning walk for around 50 minutes every day.
"Despite any weather conditions or anything, I normally go for my walk and average 50 minutes to one hour I walk...," he said.
Talking about artificial intelligence (AI) and its ill effects, the CJI-designate said a holistic view of technology is needed.
"AI can really provide a great solution to the institution, but we will have to find a solution (to its malady)," he said.
Justice Kant will have a tenure of 15 months before he demits office on February 9, 2027, on attaining the age of 65.
Born on February 10, 1962, in Hisar district of Haryana in a middle-class family, Justice Kant went from being a small-town lawyer to the country's highest judicial office, where he has been part of several verdicts and orders of national importance and constitutional matters. He also holds the distinction of standing 'first class first' in his master's degree in law in 2011 from Kurukshetra University.
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89 killed as storm, rain batter UP; relief work underway
Lucknow (PTI): At least 89 people were killed after a strong storm and heavy rain pounded several districts of Uttar Pradesh, uprooting trees and damaging houses, according to the Relief Commissioner's office.
As the weather changed suddenly on Wednesday evening, many took shelter under trees and flyovers. Clouds of dust enveloped large parts of the state, reducing visibility and ripping hoardings and tin sheds.
High velocity winds also uprooted trees and electric poles, many of which blocked roads, crushed vehicles and damaged houses.
Rescue efforts were launched soon after. Some dug through the debris with bare hands to rescue those trapped while others rushed the injured, including children, to hospitals.
"Due to bad weather on May 13, including storms, rain, hailstorm and lightning, reports of 89 deaths, 53 injured persons, 114 livestock losses and damage to 87 houses have been received in the state, which has been taken cognisance of by the Hon'ble Chief Minister," the Relief Commissioner's office said in a post on X on Thursday.
It said the chief minister has directed all divisional commissioners and district magistrates to verify the incidents "with full sensitivity" and ensure financial assistance is distributed to affected families within 24 hours while establishing direct communication with them and extending other necessary help.
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The Relief Commissioner's office said it is continuously monitoring the situation through direct coordination with district officials and necessary funds are being made available to districts.
Various videos showing the damage caused by the violent storm were shared on social media, but one from Bamiyana village in Bareilly stood out.
The video shows a man being flung nearly 50 ft in the air along with a tin roof by gusts of wind and thrown in a field.
The man had held onto a tin shed to protect himself during the storm.
According to a list issued by the Prayagraj district administration, seven deaths were reported in the Handia area, four in Phulpur, three in Soraon, two in Meja and one in Sadar due to the storm and rain.
In Bhadohi, at least 16 people died in storm-related incidents.
Additional District Magistrate Kunwar Virendra Kumar Maurya said trees and electric poles were uprooted in several areas and many houses were damaged in the storm.
In Bhadohi's Rampur, several people fell into the Ganga after the storm damaged a pontoon bridge at the Ganga ghat. All of them were rescued safely.
In Mirzapur's Gaura Pramanpur, too, a pontoon bridge was damaged, cutting off 20 villages.
Fatehpur Additional District Magistrate Avinash Tripathi said nine people were killed and 16 injured in storm-related incidents in the district.
"Eight people, including five women, died in Khaga tehsil, while a woman died after a wall of a house collapsed in Sadar tehsil," he said.
In Pratapgarh, four people died in separate incidents of wall and cemented shed collapse and lightning strike amid strong winds and rain.
Superintendent of Police Deepak Bhukar said Bhim Yadav (25) died after he was trapped under the debris of a cemented shed that collapsed in Ojha Ka Purwa village in the Lalganj Kotwali area.
He said Bhushan Pandey (56) died after a wall collapsed in Sari Swami village under the Baghrai police station area.
Bhukar said Shanti Devi (46) of Narangpur village and Lal Bahadur (44) of Chhatrapur Shivala Raghna village also died in storm-related incidents.
In Kanpur Dehat district, two persons died in rain-related incidents.
Police sources said a 19-year-old woman, Ruchi, died after being struck by lightning in Bhauthari village under the Rasulabad area while sheltering under a tree with goats during heavy rain. Several goats also died in the incident.
A 60-year-old man standing nearby was injured, they said.
Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Dushyant Kumar said reports regarding human and livestock losses have been sought from local officials and financial assistance will be provided as per government rules.
In Deoria, Komal Yadav (62), a resident of Bhimpur Gaura village, died after being struck by lightning. Two others were injured in the incident.
In another incident, Ramnath Prasad (65), a resident of Neruari village, died in a lightning strike.
In Sonbhadra district, Madhav Singh (38) died after being trapped under an uprooted tree.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognisance of the loss of lives and damage caused by the unseasonal rain, thunderstorms and lightning, and directed officials to ensure relief reaches the affected families within 24 hours.
The CM has directed all districts to send updates on storm, rain and lightning-related damage every three hours and asked officials to publicise relief measures, including compensation disbursal, on social media, an official statement said.
According to the statement, reports of human casualties, livestock losses and crop damage have emerged from at least 19 districts, including Barabanki, Bahraich, Kanpur Dehat, Basti, Sambhal, Hardoi and Unnao. Several houses were also damaged due to inclement weather.
Adityanath also instructed the officials to remain alert and ordered the revenue and agriculture departments, along with insurance companies, to conduct a survey of the damage and submit a report to the government.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav termed the loss of lives in the state "extremely saddening".
He urged the government to immediately arrange free and proper treatment for the injured, ensure the supply of food and drinking water, and make temporary accommodation arrangements for those affected.
He also demanded dignified last rites for the deceased and appealed to Samajwadi Party workers in unaffected areas to help those impacted by the storm in every possible manner.
