Each branch of governance must honour its constitutionally-assigned distinct role: CJI Sanjiv Khanna

Speaking on the 75th Constitution Day celebrations held in the national capital, the CJI said each branch of the government was not a satellite in an independent orbit but a related actor.

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday said each branch of the government must honour its constitutionally-assigned role by nurturing inter-institutional equilibrium.

Speaking on the 75th Constitution Day celebrations here, the CJI said the Constitution by design insulates judiciary from the ebbs and lows of electoral process, which ensures the decisions are unbiased and free from ill-will and guided solely by the Constitution and laws.

"At the same time, each branch of the government is not a satellite in an independent orbit but rather a related actor which works in a degree of separateness. Each branch must honour its constitutionally assigned distinct role by nurturing inter institutional equilibrium. Judicial independence does not serve as a high wall but as a catalyst," the CJI said.

He said the scale of cases flowing in Indian courts was "staggering" and during the year alone, the judicial system received over 2,800 crore cases in the district courts and about 16.6 lakh cases in high courts and 54,000 cases in the Supreme Court.

"Therefore, it is not surprising that there are more than 4.54 crore cases pending in district courts and 61 lakh cases in high courts. These numbers reflect the challenge and represent the deep trust citizens place on our courts. Our district courts have showed remarkable improvement and efficiency, particularly in civil matters. Last year alone, our district courts resolved over 20 lakh criminal cases and over 8 lakh civil cases. The case clearance rate in Supreme Court has increased from 95 to 97 per cent," the CJI said.

He thanked the Centre for approving Rs 7,200 crore for Phase III of the e-Courts project and ensuring the judiciary was equipped to perform its functions.

CJI Khanna said real-time transcriptions and speech-to-text tools by the Supreme Court attempted to address the issue of trust deficit.

"While current prison population stands at 5.23 lakh prisoners, our judicial workforce comprises 20,000 judges in district courts, 750 judges in high courts. This vast disparity for those seeking justice and those tasked with dispensing justice should forecast a paralysed system. Yet data tells a different story. In 2022, despite influx of 18 lakh new inmates, judiciary facilitated release of about 15 lakh prisoners, of which 3 lakh undertrials were released," he said.

The CJI said the foremost duty of judges was towards the public and being open and transparent was judiciary's biggest strength.

"By opening ourselves to scrutiny we can identify systematic inefficiencies and bottlenecks and work towards eliminating them," he said.

The CJI underlined certain areas of concern in the judiciary saying, "These are arrears and backlog of cases, delays, cost of litigation, lack of access to justice, large number of undertrial prisoners and phenomenon of trust deficit."