Supreme Court Judge J. Chelameswar on Saturday stressed the need for finding an immediate solution to the issue of huge backlog of cases in the Supreme Court.
Delivering the first Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer memorial lecture on ‘Supreme Court’– Structural and Jurisprudential Problems’ organised by the Sarada Krishna Satgamaya Foundation for Law and Justice, Kochi, Mr. Chelameswar said that no one could afford to keep quiet on the issue. The long delays in the disposal of cases would invite ridicule and destroy the credibility of the institution. Therefore, judges and the legal fraternity had to find out a solution to the issue immediately.
Mr. Chelameswar, who had delivered a dissenting judgment upholding the constitutional validity of the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, said that in a bid to extend justice in individual cases, the Supreme Court had practically become a battle ground of facts than law as it ought to be. This had led to heavy backlog of cases and forced the Supreme Court to sit in bench of small strength, creating structural and jurisprudential problems.
Mr. Chelameswar reminded the lawyers and judges the quote of Macaulay mentioned in his dissenting judgment: “Reform that you may preserve”.
Role of judges
Speaking at the function, Kerala High Court Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan said that judges were part of the constitutional set-up. The judges could play their role effectively only when they participated in the process of securing social and economic justice. Such participation alone would help them become creative judges.
It was former Supreme Court judge late Justice Krishna Iyer who gave meaning and content to the first generation rights such as civil and political rights which were integral components of Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the second generation rights comprising social, economic and cultural rights which found reflection in the Preamble to the Constitution, which had hitherto remained merely ornamental.
Former Supreme Court Judge K.T. Thomas and Director General of Prosecution T. Asaf Ali spoke.
