People Get Fed Up With Judicial Process, End Up Wanting Settlement: CJI Chandrachud

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud is known to call a spade a spade.

On Saturday, he said people get “so fed up” with the matters of courts that they just want a settlement, reported PTI.

The CJI was speaking on the role of Lok Adalats as an alternative dispute redressal mechanism.

“Log itna trast ho jate hain court ke mamlon se wo koi bhi settlement chahte hain… Bas court se dur kara dijiye (People are so fed up with the matters of the court that they just want a settlement). This process is the punishment and that is a cause of concern for all of us as judges,” Justice Chandrachud said at the commemoration of special Lok Adalat week at the Supreme Court.

The CJI pointed out that he got tremendous support and cooperation from everyone, including the Bar and the Bench in setting up Lok Adalat at every stage.

When the panels for Lok Adalat were constituted, it was ensured that all of them would consist of two judges and two members of the Bar, he said.

“The purpose behind doing this was to give ownership to the advocates over the institution because this is not an institution which is only run by the judges, and this is not the institution of the judges, for the judges, by the judges,” the CJI remarked.

“There is so much that we learn from each other. We learnt from the advocates about how much command they have over small procedural issues,” he said.

He genuinely felt that the Supreme Court may be located in Delhi, but it is not the Supreme Court of Delhi… It is the Supreme Court of India.

“Since I took over as the CJI, we have made efforts to bring officers from all over the country into the Registry. They bring a great amount of inclusion and diversity,” Chandrachud said.

The special Lok Adalat began with seven benches initially as “we were sceptical if we would be successful.”

But he said, by Thursday “we had 13 benches and there was so much work.”

“The purpose of Lok Adalat has been to take justice to the homes of people and ensure people that we (judges) are constant presence in their lives,” Chandrachud said.