File photo: CJI Suryakant (Picture credit: ANI)
NEW DELHI: With trials in Delhi riots and many UAPA cases against accused including Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam dragging, Chief Justice Surya Kant said expeditious completion of trial in these cases is desirable as final adjudication of evidence would address the grievances of non-grant of bail despite long period of incarceration.TOI asked CJI Kant, who is exactly halfway through his 15-month tenure, about his views on the criticism faced by judiciary for not granting bail to accused like Khalid, Imam and co-accused in several cases under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) despite being in jail as undertrials for years.Without referring to any particular case or individual accused persons, the CJI said, “This is an area which needs to be addressed on the judicial side. But a part of this problem has effectively been cured through a parallel judicial proceeding through which I have been able to impress upon the Union govt to establish exclusive special courts for conducting trials in UAPA, PMLA and NDPS cases.””A beginning has been made. Now that govt has agreed and started establishing special courts exclusively for UAPA, PMLA and NDPS cases, if we are able to conclude trials within one year or expeditiously, this entire controversy will come to an end. Coming years would yield the desired result of fast-tracking the trials. This will address the grievances of accused,” he said.
Bringing credibility to tribunals is the other challenge, says CJI
Asked about the challenges he faced as head of judiciary, CJI Kant said, “I consider that dealing with pendency of cases is the ultimate challenge.” This comes on a day when the total pendency in trial courts crossed five crore mark and stood at 5.05 crore cases Saturday, of which 1.1 crore were civil and 3.9 core were criminal cases.“The second challenge, to my mind, is to dismantle the distance between common man and Supreme Court. The bar has to play a proactive role along with the bench. They need to discharge this responsibility through leadership roles to reach out to people,” CJI Kant said.The Supreme Court’s image is normally intimidating to a common man because of his apprehension that his case may remain pending without being heard or he may not get adequate legal assistance or afford a lawyer. These negative feelings about Supreme Court must be eliminated, he said. During the last one year there has been a remarkable qualitative change in the free legal assistance given to poor litigants with empanelment of competent lawyers in the legal aid services.Expressing disappointment over the functioning, working and image of quasi-judicial bodies like National Green Tribunal, National Company Law Tribunal, NCLAT, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and Central Administrative Tribunals, the CJI said that the other challenge is how to bring and maintain credibility of tribunals, which have been established as an alternative forum to judiciary.“People are building an image of the judiciary after seeing what is happening in these tribunals, which are manned by retired Supreme Court or HC judges. But the problem is that because of the revised service conditions, not many retired judges are willing to take up the assignments of heading tribunals. I’m requesting the retired judges with impeccable track record to head the tribunals as a service to the society and the country,” the CJI said.“It is a assignment that would help former judges to continue repaying the society and help reinforce the faith and trust of people in quasi-judicial bodies, which play a very important role in adjudicating disputes relating to crucial sectors — economy, environment and electricity, public perception of quasi-judicial bodies is reflective of the perception about judiciary and vice versa” CJI Kant said.
