The legacy of CJI Ramana: Frequent preachy speeches and why it did not achieve what he wanted – bring Judiciary closer to the people

 The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

Recently, Justice N.V.Ramana had retired as the Chief Justice of India after 16 months in tenure. The English media, that celebrated his multitude of preachy speeches during his tenure, was suddenly very unhappy with his tenure. Working in great tandem, all of them wrote articles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)  repeating only one argument – that he resorted to “judicial evasion” by keeping 6 Constitutional cases pending during his tenure.

I was dismayed reading all these articles. Dismayed not because all of them highlighted the same point; but dismayed because they all were highlighting the least of his failures! CJI N.V. Ramana was definitely a vocal judge occupying the media space quite frequently. The reason he was in the news fairly regularly was because he gave speeches on various topics, almost every weekend. In his farewell speech, he mentions that this frequency was a conscious choice. Why? Because he wanted to bring the courts closer to the people.

Now, that’s a baffling argument to make. Why would mere speeches from the Chief Justice of India (that more often sounded like sermons to everyone in the society) bring the courts closer to the people? He is perhaps the only Judge on record to give a free sermon to almost every institution every section of the society in the country. Except, ofcourse, the Judiciary! Why would his views on how media should function bring courts closer to people? Why would his complaints on the executive and legislature bring courts closer to people? Why would his lament that people of our country cannot afford courts bring courts closer to people? Why would his opinion on investigative agencies like the CBI, bring courts closer to people?

You may now be tempted to ask – but what is it that brings Courts closer to the people? For starters, it will help if Courts start delivering judgments and documentation in regional languages. This is not my intellectual idea that I am flaunting here. According to our very own Justice N.V. Ramana – “I am receiving many representations for introducing local languages in proceedings before high courts”. The next obvious question is what has the mighty and powerful Chief Justice of India done about this? Nothing. As with almost everything, he has only offered his opinion and advice on this matter – “I think the time has come now to revisit the demand and take it to a logical conclusion.” What exactly does he mean by saying “revisit the demand”? If he received “many representations”, then why exactly couldn’t he do anything on this?  Doesn’t the CJI has enough powers to atleast make a beginning on this front? Aren’t you as baffled as I am?

In his farewell speech, he lamented that he could not solve the problem of listing of cases in the Supreme Court. Surely, another thing that can bring courts closer to people. It really begs the question – how can the mighty Chief Justice of India not solve things that he is fully empowered to do? If he is not able to solve matters right under his nose, then what right does it give him to sermonise everyone else in the society?

Do you know what else will bring courts closer to the people? “Modernisation of judicial infrastructure as a means for providing access to justice”. Again, not my intellectual idea. He said it. And do you want to know what he did to solve it? In his own words, he “pushed” for it. How did he “push” for it? By proposing a “National Judicial Infrastructure Authority”! In March 2021, the CJI has made a proposal to the GoI. In April 2022, this topic was discussed at the meeting of all the CMs and CJIs of the states and no consensus was reached.  The reference to infrastructure is very basic here – not enough complexes have separate toilets for ladies (only 74% of court complexes have them!). It really beats me – since 2014, nearly 5000 crores has been released by the GoI to the states for infrastructure related works. The state governments also release money for such infrastructure. Can we really not build separate toilets in our court complexes with this kind of money?

One of the important reasons why Courts aren’t perceived to be closer to people is the huge pendency of cases in the courts! And one of the important driving factors behind this pendency is the vacancies in Judiciary. It is here that Justice N.V. Ramana has definitely made a long-lasting impact on the Judiciary. The collegium headed by him was able to clear the appointment of 11 new SC judges and 224 new High Court Judges! These are excellent numbers and Justice N.V. Ramana must be complimented for working closely with the government to close these vacancies, atleast in the Supreme Courts and High Courts (he cannot do much about vacancies in the lower courts though, it’s a fact).

But then he also tells us – “I also tried to highlight the difference between the arrears and backlogs to put things in perspective.” Yes sir, for the lakhs of people waiting for their pending cases to close, explaining the difference between arrears and backlogs will come as a huge relief! The problem of Judicial vacancies is being monitored by the Supreme Court itself, since 2018, but we are yet to know of progress (or the lack of it) every since.

In his speeches meant to being the courts closer to the people, Justice N.V.Ramana has also focussed exclusively on defending the Judiciary and the ways it functions. He sought to lay the blame of delayed Justice itself at the doors of the executive and the legislature; he repeatedly told us how hard the life of a Judge is and how people don’t understand the sacrifices the Judges make in their family lives. Yes, the violent attacks on some Judges are a matter of concern that needs to be addressed.  But for the crores of people in our country, who make countless sacrifices in their lives, it really doesn’t prick their conscience that Judges also make certain sacrifices.

His lament on the disproportionately high costs of working with the courts is yet another thing on which nothing has been done.  The legal fees for continuous representation are so high that the undertrials languish in jails for months and years together. You find out that the Judiciary itself called this as a “crying shame on the judicial system”, way back in 1978! 

Justice N.V. Ramana hasn’t delivered all these speeches as an individual. He delivered them as the Chief Justice of India. His sermons on what needs to change in Judiciary can only become a reality when the Judiciary feels the exact pressure that our executive and legislative wings feel every 5 years. The Judiciary needs to adopt self-correcting measures on the same line that the executive and legislative wings have done over the years.

Popular uprisings, meaningful debates, social/mainstream media pressure, adaptability to change – these are some of the things that led to both the executive and legislature make far reaching changes in how they function. We don’t need verbose judgments or rhetorical speeches. We need speedier justice and if the learned Judiciary can’t do what it takes to ensure it, then it is just a matter of time before some of these things will make the Judiciary do it. Is the learned Judiciary really waiting for these to happen?