Regarding urgent matters, Justice Lalit said he will definitely look into the matter.
New Delhi:
India-appointed Chief Justice UU Lalit on Friday highlighted three areas in which he plans to work during his 74-day term as head of the judiciary and said he will try to make every effort to ensure that at least one constitutional bench is active on the Supreme Court throughout the year.
Justice Lalit, who will become the 49th CJI on Saturday, said the other two areas are – listing cases for trial in the highest court and addressing urgent matters.
Speaking at an event organized by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to bid farewell to outgoing CJI NV Ramana, Justice Lalit said he has always believed that the role of the highest court is to make law. clearly and the best possible way to do it. it is to have large benches as soon as possible so that the problems are clarified immediately.
“So we’re going to do our best to say yes, we’ll always have at least one constitutional bench running throughout the year,” he said.
Justice Lalit said one of the areas he plans to work in is on list the cases before the constitutional bench and matters specifically addressed to the three-judge bench.
On the matter of listing issues, he said, “…. I must assure you that we will do our best to make the listing as simple, clear and transparent as possible”.
Regarding urgent matters, Justice Lalit said he will definitely look into the matter.
“I’m going to have a word with all my learned colleagues on the bench and we’ll definitely work that out and very quickly you’ll have a clear regime where any problems Any urgent matter can be freely mentioned before the respective courts,” he said.
Justice Lalit said, “I have always believed that the role of the Supreme Court is to make the law clear, consistent, and the best possible way to do that is to have bigger benches as soon as possible, wherever the problem is mentioned such benches so that the matter is immediately clarified, the matter is unified and the people are clearly aware of the contours of the particular positions in the the law. ”
While praising Justice Ramana, who became a CJI on April 24 last year, Justice Lalit pointed to two “outstanding” achievements, including more than 250 judge appointments in the high courts. nationally were taken as a result of recommendations made by top court universities over the past 14 months or so.
Currently, the number of judges in high-level courts in the country is about 750 people, he said.
Referring to 250 appointments in the high courts, he said almost a third of the strength was the result of recommendations made by the university headed by Justice Ramana.
He said that there may be a time in the future when perhaps a large number of judges of the highest court may have been appointed during this period.
Justice Lalit said the second aspect he noticed was in the conference of Chief Justices and Ministers, where Justice Ramana tried meticulously and very forcefully to convince all the ministers. and the chief justice focused on infrastructure-related issues in the county and the lower judiciary.
“That was remarkable,” he said.
Justice Lalit said the results of that conference are now resonating.
“…. I have to say and share with you that as president of NALSA (National Legal Services Agency), one of the projects that we are looking to work on is to have a win. called ‘the public defender’s office or the legal aid defense attorney,’ he said.
He said they are insisting that in each district, there must be a defense attorney’s office, which is subordinate to the prosecutor’s office and the problem is that this office will need some space.
Justice Lalit said with the perseverance shown during the conference of ministers and chief justices ‘, in each county, the states involved are willing to provide a minimum of 800 square feet for a conservator’s office. the right.
“This was due to Justice Ramana’s persistence and the issues he dealt with during the ministers’ and chief justice’s conference,” he said.
Referring to the three areas in which he plans to work as a CJI, Justice Lalit said he has spoken to those in charge of the SCBA’s office and the Court Records Advocates Association. Supreme earlier in the day.
“It’s been a tough time for people like me. Look at the popularity of my predecessor. How will I wear that coat from now on,” Justice Lalit said right from the start. head.
“From the very beginning, even before I took office, I expressed my complete inability to fit in and be anywhere near this level of fame,” he said, adding that his achievements by Justice Ramana is well known.
Justice Lalit said it was fun and emotional to hear some of the speeches given in front of the ceremonial benches in the morning and that it was the most fitting tribute a real person could receive.
Justice Lalit will have a short term of less than three months as CJI and he will retire on November 8 this year. The retirement age for Supreme Court justices is 65.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
