Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday said the judiciary was witnessing an unprecedented rise in instances of “indecorous” acts, and lamented that graceful discourse and deliberations were increasingly being replaced by “loud and motivated” conduct in courts.
It is important that these are quickly identified, isolated and put in “quarantine” by stakeholders to ensure the decorum and dignity of the judiciary is not lost, he said.
The CJI was speaking during Independence Day celebrations on the Supreme Court’s lawn where he unfurled the national flag in the presence of other dignitaries, including law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, attorney-general K.K. Venugopal and senior advocates.
Justice Gogoi said instances of inappropriate behaviour had raised their ugly head in all courts, including the Supreme Court.
“The Indian judiciary has since some time witnessed an unprecedented rise of instance of indecorous acts.… Such instances of inappropriate behaviour have raised their ugly head in all courts, including the Supreme Court. Graceful and pleasant discourses and deliberations are increasingly being replaced by loud and motivated conduct,” he said.
The CJI added: “It was important that stakeholders quickly identify and isolate and put them in quarantine. They must ensure that the decorum and dignity of this institution is not lost.”
Justice Gogoi said reinventing the decades-old infrastructure of the apex court would not be a mean task and asked all stakeholders to rise to the constitutional needs and “overcome parochial overtones and myopic considerations”.
“The Supreme Court administration looks forward to cooperation from all stakeholders in reinventing our decades-old infrastructure to match the demands of the rising number of litigants in the constitutional order and seek justice. Reinventing the infrastructure would not be a mean task and it is expected to test our metal and our character to be able to move out of our comfort zones and aid our institution.
“I am confident eventually all stakeholders will rise to the constitutional needs and overcome parochial undertones, and myopic considerations. Multi-stakeholder institutions like the judiciary do not have any place for parochialism…,” Justice Gogoi said.
The CJI said increased strength of the top court was expected to reduce the perceived pendency of cases before it.
“The Supreme Court is well prepared to serve the people in the weeks ahead. Functioning in its full capacity in the last few months, it looks forward to cater to a larger number of litigants and aspires to reduce the time that is presently being taken to deal with the cases before it. The increase in the strength of judges is also expected to reduce the perceived pendency of cases before it,” he said.