A broad platform to assess judges for SC appointment prepared: CJI Chandrachud

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Friday said that with the help of the Centre for Research and Planning, a broad platform to assess judges for appointment to the Supreme Court has been prepared.

The CJI said this referring to the criticism of the Collegium that it has no factual data to evaluate people being considered for appointment.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion of the Ram Jethmalani memorial lecture, CJI Chandrachud said that with the help of the Centre for Research and Planning, they have prepared a broad platform where they can assess the top 50 judges in the country to be considered for appointment to the top court.

He also said that one of the important effects of institutionalizing courts is that it enhances transparency and accountability.

CJI Chandrachud said that his first goal as the Chief Justice of India was to institutionalize the Courts and move away from an ad-hoc model of operation.

“One of the important effects of institutionalizing courts is that it enhances transparency and accountability. While these are very important effects of institutionalization, we should also not forget the human side of the story. I have in the course of my ten months as the Chief Justice realized that institutionalisation in addition to enhancing transparency also humanizes the work space,” CJI said.

CJI said that staff are able to draw boundaries between work and home, and increase their work efficiency, which has also positively changed things for those on the other side that is the bar.

He also pointed out that the implementation of filing of cases, removal of defects among various others through online portals and said that such things made easier now to file pleadings than to live in the anxiety of standing in lines.

CJI said that his focus is also on reducing barriers to accessing the courts, easing the process of filling and arguing, improving the gender ratio of lawyers, ensuring that lawyers and litigants have facilities to comfortably rest while at courts.

CJI also said that one of the primary requirements for institutionalising the court system is to identify the issues that hampers its efficiency and curating remedies to address such issues.

“An able team of judges, lawyers and researchers working at the Centre for Research and Planning are assisting the courts with this work. Their work is invaluable particularly because of the lack of research and data on the functioning of the courts in India. The Centre for Research and Planning is now in the process of creating a system for managing and reducing case pendency through a project called SC-JUDICARE – which stands for Judicial Disposal through Case Management and Resource Efficiency. The project aims to increase efficiency through improved case classification, grouping, and tagging. Phase I of the project is underway where we are collecting data on pending dockets to frame guidelines,” CJI said.

CJI also said that they have also prepared a roadmap for auditing criminal matters and the aim is to integrate granular data with Integrated Case Management Information System (ICMIS), identify infructuous matters and devise strategic priorities at an institutional level.

He also mentioned that yesterday, the Supreme Court got on board the National Judicial Data Grid which would provide real time tracking of disposal and pendency with a click.

CJI also said that they are now also moving to a paperless mode of pleadings and communication and court rooms of the Supreme Court are becoming tech friendly.

CJI Chandrachud also said that Ram Jethmalani determination and commitment set the stage for a lifelong pursuit of justice.

CJI said that he came to Bombay with nothing but Rs 10 and as a refugee, he understood the plight of those at the fringes, especially the partition refugees.

Just three years into his practice at Bombay – Ram Jethmalani made his first impression as a constitutional lawyer and argued a challenge in the Bombay High Court to the Bombay Refugee Act 1947 which granted extensive powers to the State government to confine refugees.