Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with Chief Justice of India, D. Y. Chandrachud and others during regional conference of the National Judicial Academy, in Kolkata, Saturday, June 29, 2024.(IANS)
Kolkata, June 29 (IANS) The Chief Justice of India (CJI), DY Chandrachud, on Saturday, observed that the trend of equating judges with God is dangerous since the task of judges is to serve public interest.
“Too very often, we are addressed as Honour or as Lordship or as Ladyship. There is a very grave danger when people say that the court is a temple of justice. There is a grave danger that we perceive ourselves as the deities in those temples,” CJI Chandrachud said while addressing the Regional Conference of National Judicial Academy here on Saturday morning.
The CJI said that he feels reticent when he is told that the court is the temple of justice because the temple postulates that the judges are in the position of a deity.
“I would rather recast the role of the judge as a server of the people. And when you regard yourselves as people who are there to serve others, then you bring in the notion of compassion, of empathy, of judging but not being judgmental about others,” the CJI said.
He said that even while sentencing anyone in a criminal case, the judges do that with a sense of compassion, since at the end, a human being is being sentenced.
“So these concepts of constitutional morality, which I think, are the key, not just for the judges of the Supreme Court or the High Court but also for the district judiciary itself, because the engagement of the common citizens begins first and foremost with the district judiciary,” CJI Chandrachud said.
Speaking on the occasion, he strongly stressed on the relevance of technology in the functioning of the judiciary.
According to CJI Chandrachud, language is the central barrier to accessing and understanding verdicts by common people.
“Technology can provide us with some answers. Most judgments are written in English. Technology has enabled us to translate them. We are translating 51,000 judgments in other languages,” CJI Chandrachud said.
Judicial system should be politically unbiased: Mamata Banerjee
The judicial system of the country should be politically unbiased, honest and pure, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday.
“We have 88 fast-track courts in West Bengal, out of which 55 are for women only. We have 99 human rights courts in the state. My only plea is that the judicial system of the country should be totally unbiased, pure and honest. Secrecy should be maintained,” Banerjee said while addressing the Regional Conference of the National Judicial Academy here on Saturday morning.
Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, were also present on the occasion.
Claiming her to be a member of the legal fraternity by virtue of her degree in law, the Chief Minister said the judicial system to her is as sacred as temple, church, mosque and Gurdwara.
“I consider myself as a member of the legal fraternity. I am still a member of the bar association. I have personally appeared as a counsel in some cases,” she added.
Speaking on the occasion, she claimed that the state government is always beside the judicial system and stressed the prime task of the judicial system is to protect the common people.
“If the judicial system does not protect common people, who will protect them? The common people believe that only the judicial system can relieve them of their problems. Justice Chandrachud has undoubtedly helped in improving the judicial system of the country. On its part, the state government has spent about Rs 1,000 crore to improve the system,” the Chief Minister said.
