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Chief Justice On “Colonial Mindset”, “Subordination”


'All This Must Change': Chief Justice of 'Colonial Thinking', 'Submission'

District justice is the core or foundation of the justice system, he said.

New Delhi:

India’s newly sworn-in Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Monday asked Supreme Court and Supreme Court justices to steer clear of “colonial thinking” and “submissive culture” while dealing with the district court judges, said the country needed to move towards a “more modern and equal judiciary”.

Speaking at his commendation ceremony organized by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the 50th CJI also addressed the issue of vacancies, stating that 25% of vacancies in the district courts, 30% in the high courts and some empty seats. in the Supreme Court, and they will be filled based on merit.

“We have to make sure we move towards a more modern judiciary and a more equal judiciary and unless we’re in the upper courts, be it the Supreme Court or the Supreme Court, recognize that the district judiciary is the core or foundation of the justice system, nothing will change,” he said.

There is a need to inculcate a sense of the value of district judicial bodies, he said, adding that it is interesting that more and more women are joining the district judiciary.

“The last recruitment took place in the state of Rajasthan, more than 60% of the people employed were women. I see a generational shift going on in the judiciary; it’s a demographic shift in the workforce. the judiciary,” he said.

Discussing the issue of “colonial thinking” in the judiciary, he said, “I think we have fostered a culture of submission. We call the district judiciary the subordinate judiciary and I make a conscious effort not to refer to district judges as junior judges because they are not subordinates. They belong to the district judicial authority”.

He said he has visited district courts, where it was previously customary for district judges to stand when High Court judges have lunch or dinner.

“Sometimes they even try to serve (food) to the Supreme Court justices. It speaks to our colonial mindset,” he said, adding that he always emphasized the The district judge sat at the same table and ate the food.

Giving another example, CJI Chandrachud said if a chief justice of Allahabad High Court talks to a very high district judge, then after every sentence he will look at you and say “Haan ji Sir ( Yes sir)”.

“Most young judges are different, and they will talk to you on an equal basis because that shows where India is going. They are young, educated, smart and they have aspirations, they have a sense of self-worth, and they have confidence in themselves and the same goes for young lawyers,” he said.

He said a lot of work must be done not only in improving the infrastructure of the district judiciary, which is extremely important, and “we have to lay the groundwork for today.” “We also have to change our thinking about how we as superior court judges view our district judiciary.” “How do we see them (district judges)? You’ll find that a senior IAS officer doesn’t look at a young officer with such incompetence, and they will say from an equal footing, But that’s not the case in the judicial sphere. We have to make sure that when we deal with judicial officers, we deal (in principle) equally,” he said.

“There are states in the country where if a judge crosses and crosses county boundaries, judicial officers will line up at the end of one county boundary as the judge enters another. All this has to change,” he added.

CJI Chandrachud said the bar has made some reasonable requests and he will try to solve it by adopting a collaborative approach.

Speaking of reforms, he assured that any steps taken by his predecessor Justice UU Lalit during his short term would continue. He said he wanted to use more technology intervention to list cases smoothly.

CJI Chandrachud, head of the highest court’s electronics committee and taking steps towards digitization, said the technology would be used to optimize output without reducing the existing role of human resources. force.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the syndication feed.)

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