CJI Chandrachud underlines ‘Constitutional Morality’ as means to preserve India’s diversity
Kolkata (PTI): Espousing the importance of implementing ‘Constitutional Morality’ in Indian jurisprudence, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Saturday insisted on the commitment of courts to ensure diversity, inclusion and tolerance.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the two-day East Zone II Regional Conference of the National Judicial Academy, the CJI also focused on the importance of technological advancements in the justice delivery system.
CJI Chandrachud elaborated on the notion of ‘Constitutional Morality’ as a restraining factor on the state that should derive from the Preambluar values of the Constitution.
Underlining the country’s federal structure that’s “marked by a great deal of diversity”, the CJI focused on the role of judges in “preserving the diversity of India”.
“I am reticent when people call courts a temple of justice. Because that would mean the judges are deities which they are not. They are instead servers of the people, who deliver justice with compassion and empathy,” CJI Chandrachud said at the conference titled ‘Contemporary Judicial Developments and Strengthening Justice Through Law and Technology’.
Calling judges “servants and not masters of the Constitution”, the CJI warned the judiciary of the pitfalls of personal values and belief systems of judges interfering with judgments that are opposed to values enshrined in the Constitution.
“We could be masters of Constitutional interpretation, but a just society is established with the court’s vision of Constitutional Morality,” he said.
While speaking on the need for technological assistance in ensuring the effective delivery of justice to citizens, the CJI said, “The idea is to not modernise for the sake of modernisation. It is a step to aid something else we want to achieve.”
CJI Chandrachud spoke of AI-assisted software aiding the work-in-progress to translate the 37,000-odd Supreme Court judgments delivered since Independence from English into all Constitution-recognised regional languages.
Making available digitised formats of Supreme Court judgments free for all, decentralised access to courts to provide travel relief to litigants, using technology to create awareness of court procedures and categorisation of cases are also some of the technology-driven measures in aiding effective justice which the CJI spoke about.
Delivering a special address at the programme, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to members of the judiciary to ensure that political bias should not interfere with the justice delivery system.
“Judiciary should be pure, honest and sacred. I believe that the judiciary is of, by and for the people. If the judiciary cannot deliver justice to people, who can? It’s the ultimate frontier for getting justice and the last recourse to save our country’s democracy and our Constitution,” Banerjee said.
Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court TS Sivagnanam was also present at the programme which was organised in collaboration with the Calcutta High Court and West Bengal Judicial Academy.
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Rahul Gandhi accuses Modi govt of pushing Manipur into 'civil war'
New Delhi, Jul 1: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP-led government on Monday of pushing Manipur into a "civil war" due to its policies and politics.
The Congress leader also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not visiting the the state since ethnic violence broke out there.
Initiating the debate on behalf of the opposition in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks for the president's address, Gandhi alleged that the government is behaving as if nothing has happened in Manipur.
"You have immersed Manipur into a civil war. Manipur has been burnt by you, your policies and your politics," he said.
The Congress leader said it seems as if Manipur is not an Indian state. "For the prime minister, there is no state of Manipur. We urged the prime minister to give a message, to go there. But no. You cannot get a reply (from the prime minister)," he said.
Gandhi also referred to the plight of the women in the northeastern state. Responding to a remark from the treasury benches, he said "you do not include women in your organisation, but I can speak about them".
Manipur has been on the boil since May last year as ethnic violence broke out in the state after a march was organised by Kuki tribals in the hill districts to protest against the valley-dominant Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
