The Supreme Court is exploring the possibility of adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) to prevent undue delays in delivery of justice, said Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde on Saturday.
Speaking after inaugurating the 19th biennial State-level conference of judicial officers, organised by the Karnataka State Judicial Officers’ Association, he said, “We have the possibility of developing AI for the court system. But this is only for the purpose of ensuring that undue delay in justice delivery is prevented; not to replace human judges and human discretion. I must make it clear as even judges have raised this question.”
“It is only the repetitive, mathematical and mechanical parts of the judgments for which help can be taken from AI. As you all know, motor accident claim cases basically depend on calculation under a particular formula. We are exploring the possibility of implementing it,” Justice Bobde said. “Most of you are computer-savvy and know that the reading speeds with AI use are up to 10 lakhs words a second. Thousands of pages can be scanned in a matter of seconds and you can get the answer you want from the system.”
On pre-litigation
Pre-litigation mediation is the need of the hour, especially in the backdrop of the significant pendency the country’s courts are battling. There are innumerable areas where pre-litigation mediation can solve the problem, the CJI said.
“Our powers under Section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure are not utilised sufficiently, and many times when they are utilised there may not be the sufficient success, as we experienced in the Ayodhya dispute. We thought that things could be resolved by mediation. But there was some problem and it did not help. Mediation is something that must be brought into the system,” he said.
Clarifying that it does not affect the earning prospects of the Bar, the CJI said, “Lawyers who are trained in mediation can, in fact, have a mediation Bar which can charge the same level, if not a better one, of fees for participating in mediation.”
The conference, with the theme ‘Judicial Process Re-engineering and Judicial Skill Building’, was attended by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, Supreme Court judges Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, S. Abdul Nazeer and Ajjikuttira Somaiah Bopanna, and Karnataka Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, among others.
