Though people do not elect judges and advocates, the two are answerable and accountable to the public, Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam said on Tuesday.
“The judiciary is enjoying enormous public confidence and trust, and hence advocates and judges must conduct themselves in a befitting manner,” he said.
Inaugurating the Alternative Disputes Redressal (ADR) Centre, in the presence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, Justice Sathasivam further said the judiciary must ensure easy access to justice and guarantee early finality of disputes to the litigant-public.
After assuming office about six weeks ago, he had sent three letters to the chief justice of various high courts, he said, adding that preference in judicial appointments would be given to women candidates and those from backward, SC and ST communities, besides minorities. “How relaxation in criteria should be fixed too has been indicated to them,” Justice Sathasivam said.
He said the views of the state government and the central government with regard to the candidates suggested for being appointed as judges would be given due consideration.
Noting that the Supreme Court of Indian had introduced a system wherein the listing of cases and the bench before which they were listed would be conveyed to advocates and litigants through text messages and email, he said the service would shortly be extended to daily orders as well.
Jayalalithaa made an announcement of sorts when she said acting Chief Justice RK Agrawal would soon be a chief justice and Justice R Banumathi would soon be chief justice of Jharkhand High Court.
She said resolution of disputes through negotiation, mediation and conciliation, especially in matrimonial and family disputes, would be a social therapy too, she said. Jayalalithaa said the idea of conflict resolution outside the court apparatus was not new to India, where from time immemorial a panchayat system was performing the job. The chief minister also recalled her government’s initiatives for the welfare of women and children, and said it was an area close to her heart.
While Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla said resolving a dispute amicably and by mutual consent would leave the litigant happy, acting Chief Justice Agrawal ADR was the most beneficial to the litigant public.