Lack of timely legal help affects judicial credibility: CJI

The credibility of the legal system and the rule of law have come under “severe strain” in the absence of timely help to poor and illiterate Indians, Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar said on Saturday.

The CJI’s observations came while he was highlighting the importance of Para Legal Volunteers (PLV) who, according to him, enabled ordinary and helpless people to access the benefits of the legal system.

“In the absence of timely help to most Indians, the credibility of the legal system and the rule of law comes under severe strain,” Chief Justice Khehar said, stressing that poor and illiterate Indians were the main clients of the justice system.

“These volunteers trained under the 2009 Para Legal Volunteer scheme act as filters relating to the number and nature of disputes that need to be formally and institutionally dealt with by the legal services. Para legal volunteers save time and money of the poor, the official administration and the courts,” Justice Khehar said.

Leveraging technology

Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who also spoke at the National Meet, emphasised the use of technology in providing access and administration of justice.

Noting that good governance can be delivered with the help of technology, the Minister said with the government’s scheme of common service centres (CSC), people in villages and in small towns could avail digital services like making of ration cards, PAN cards, Aadhaar cards or booking of railway tickets.