New Delhi: The history of the Supreme Court is the history of daily lives of India’s citizens, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said.
“If we peruse the history of this court, we realise that the history of the Supreme Court is the history of the daily life struggles of Indian people,” he said at an event organised in connection with the 73rd Foundation Day of the SC.
Stating that there are “no big or small cases” for the court, he said, “Every matter is important because it is in the seemingly small and routine matters involving grievances of citizens that issues of constitutional and jurisprudential emerge…. in attending to such grievances, the court performs a plain constitutional duty, a plain constitutional obligation, and a plain constitutional function.”
CJI Chandrachud said the SC’s “jurisprudential approach has been evolving. In the 1970s, the court adopted a broad purposive and contextual interpretation of the Constitution. In the past few years, the court has furthered the transformative vision of the Constitution by recognising and protecting fundamental rights such as the right to privacy, decisional autonomy and sexual and reproductive choices. Our court has emerged as a strong proponent of gender equality…”
He said the court has “also ensured that criminal justice administration is not delinked from the framework of human rights”. Citing the example of how the SC while upholding the death penalty has laid down mitigating circumstances to decide on death sentences, he said, “Thus, (the) court has sought to use the language of the Constitution to humanise law and act as a protector and fundamental rights and liberties.”
On adopting technology, he said that between March 23, 2020 and October 31, 2022, the SC alone heard 3.37 lakh cases through video-conferencing.
Referring to the government allocating Rs 7,000 crore in this Budget for phase-3 of the e-courts project, he said this will help enhance accessibility of judicial institutions and improve efficiency of the justice delivery system in India.
Chief Justice of Singapore, Sundaresh Menon, delivered the first lecture organised in connection with the Foundation Day celebrations.
—Agencies

Press Trust of India